PwisioQ 

Section 


DS773 

•B6 


THE  CHINESE 
REVOLUTION 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/chineserevolutioOObrow 


See  Chapter  VII 

Yuan  Shih  Kai 


From  photograph  presented  to  the  author  by  His  Excellency  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  through  his  son.  Yuan  Yen  Tai,  in  Peking  in  1909 


THE 

REVO 


CHINES 
LUTION 


BY 

ARTHUR  JUDSON  BROWN 

AUTHOR  OF  “NEW  FORCES  IN  OLD  CHINA,"  “THE  NEW  ERA 
IN  THE  PHILIPPINES,"  “THE  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY," 
“THE  WHY  AND  HOW  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS,” 

AND  JOINT  AUTHOR  OF  “THE  NEARER 
AND  FARTHER  EAST" 


STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1912,  by 

STUDENT  VOLUNTEER  MOVEMENT 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


AU  rights  reserved 


PREFACE 


A new  China  is  emerging.  Whatever  may  be 
the  immediate  developments,  however  short  or 
long  the  process  of  readjustment,  we  cannot  doubt 
the  outcome.  This  book  is  not,  of  course,  intended 
to  be  a final  account  of  either  the  process  or  the 
result,  but  an  aid  to  the  study  of  the  large  out- 
standing causes  and  of  their  operation  thus  far. 
These  causes  are  clear,  and  a knowledge  of  them 
is  indispensable  to  an  understanding  of  the  extra- 
ordinary significance  of  the  reconstruction  which 
is  now  taking  place.  I have  used  some  parts  of 
my  former  and  larger  book,  “ New  Forces  in  Old 
China,”  which  are  applicable  to  present  conditions 
and  the  scope  of  this  little  book — the  publishers, 
The  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  having  given 
their  approval.  This  material,  however,  has  been 
readjusted,  wherever  necessary,  and  brought  down 
to  date.  Considerable  new  matter  has  been  added, 
so  that  this  book  is  intended  to  be  a separate  one 
representing  the  present  situation. 

The  Author. 

156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York, 

March  30,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Outbreak  and  Background  of  the  Revolution  i 

II 

Transformations  Wrought  by  Steam  and  Com- 
merce   36 

III 

Diplomatic  Relations  and  Growth  of  Political 

Unrest 50 

IV 

Intellectual  Awakening  and  Educational 
Progress 71 

V 

Quickening  and  Constructive  Influence  of 

Christianity 94 

VI 

Constitutional  Development  and  Social  Re- 
form   126 

VII 

Leaders  of  the  New  China — Yuan  Shih  Kai 
— Sun  Yat  Sen 157 

VIII 

The  Future  of  the  Republic  and  the  Duty 

of  the  Christian  Churches  of  the  West  182 

vii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 

PAGE 


Yuan  Shih  Kai  ....  Frontispiece 
Tzu  Hsi,  The  Empress  Dowager  ...  6 

Provincial  Assembly  Building,  under  Serpent 

Hill,  Wu-Chang io 

Railway  Station  at  Hankow  ....  22 

Imperial  Maxim  Gun 22 

Science  Building,  Nanking  Christian  Uni- 
versity   30 

Iron  Works  at  Han-Yang  ....  40 

Secretarial  and  Teaching  Staff  of  Shanghai 

Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  . 58 

Paoting-Fu  Martyrs’  Memorial  ...  64 

New  Government  School,  Canton  . . 76 

Chinese  Students  in  the  Universities  and 

Colleges  of  the  United  States  . . 82 

Track  Team  of  a Preparatory  School  . 90 

Robert  Morrison  and  his  Chinese  Teachers  96 
Rev.  Ding  Li  Mei  and  Family  ....  106 

Union  Medical  College,  Peking  . . .116 

Types  of  Educated  Christian  Women  . .122 


IX 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FA.CTKG 

PAGE 

E.  A.  K.  Hackett  Medical  College  for 

Women 128 

Ancient  Examination  Halls,  Nanking  . . 138 

Celebrating  the  Suppression  of  Gambling  in 

Canton  . 150 

Composing  Room  of  a Mission  Press, 

Shanghai 160 

Sun  Yat  Sen 178 

The  New  Soldiery  of  China  ....  190 

Candidates  for  Christian  Ministry,  Shan- 
tung Christian  College  ....  198 

St.  John’s  College,  Shanghai  . . . 202 

Shi  Ma-Li-A  (Dr.  Mary  Stone)  . . . 206 

Map End  of  Book 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


CHAPTER  I 

OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND  OF  THE 
REVOLUTION 

The  Revolution  in  China  is  too  recent  to  be  de- 
scribed in  historic  perspective,  nor  can  we  yet  com- 
prehend its  full  results.  Its  causes  and  character, 
however,  are  apparent  and  its  larger  significance 
can  already  be  discerned. 

The  alleged  cause  was  the  attempt  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  nationalize  the  railways,  which  had 
hitherto  been  controlled  in  the  Provinces.  Foreign 
financiers  had  something  to  do  with  this  decision 
of  the  Government.  Capital  is  always  looking 
for  profitable  investment  and  European  and  Amer- 
ican bankers  saw  the  rich  possibilities  of  railway 
development  in  a country  of  such  enormous  popu- 
lation. They  urged  China  to  borrow  money  for 
the  purpose  and  they  were  not  averse  to  having 
the  railways  under  centralized  governmental  con- 
trol in  order  that  their  investments  might  be  more 
secure  and  their  dealings  limited  to  a few  men. 
Western  governments,  our  own  included,  more  or 

I 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


less  openly  abetted  the  effort,  for  they  were  not 
slow  to  discern  the  advantages  which  might  accrue 
to  them  if  the  thoroughfares  of  the  nation  were 
controlled  by  a few  officials  in  Peking  who  were 
dependent  upon  foreign  financing  and  accessible  to 
diplomatic  influence.  The  persistent  efforts  of 
mortgage  loan  companies  in  the  United  States  to 
persuade  farmers  to  borrow  money  were  repeated 
on  a colossal  scale  by  Peking  representatives  of 
German,  British,  French,  and  American  capitalists. 

The  Provinces  resented  this  program.  This  was 
partly  because  the  power  of  the  central  Govern- 
ment has  long  been  weak  in  China  and  “ States’ 
Rights”  sentiment  is  very  strong;  partly  because 
the  construction  of  railways  meant  many  oppor- 
tunities for  official  “ squeeze,”  and  local  officials 
did  not  relish  the  transfer  of  those  opportunities  to 
officials  in  Peking.  Moreover,  while  new  railways 
were  to  be  built  by  the  Government  from  foreign 
loans,  the  revenues  of  the  Provinces  were  to  be 
pledged  for  security  for  the  use  of  the  loans,  which 
virtually  meant  that  the  Imperial  Government  was 
to  borrow  vast  sums  which  the  Provinces  were  to 
mortgage  themselves  to  pay.  Accordingly,  when 
Sheng  Kung  Pao,  Minister  of  Imperial  Posts  and 
Communications,  undertook  to  carry  out  the  new 
program,  a storm  of  protest  arose.  The  crisis  was 
precipitated  in  the  Province  of  Sze-chwan,  where 
most  of  the  landed  gentry  had  subscribed  to  a joint 

2 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


stock  railway  company  with  a capital  of  eight  mil- 
lions. The  Government  ordered  the  dissolution  of 
the  company,  took  possession  of  its  properties,  and 
paid  the  stockholders  $5,350,000  in  bonds,  part 
of  which  carried  no  guaranteed  interest  and  most 
of  which  the  unhappy  subscribers  regarded  as 
worthless.  The  Government  believed,  no  doubt 
with  reason,  that  the  road  was  being  built  as  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  built  their  State  Capitols, 
and  it  was  not  disposed  to  refund  that  part  of  the 
expenditures  which  corrupt  officials  and  contractors 
had  pocketed. 

The  unrest  of  the  people  was  intensified  by  aw- 
ful calamities.  An  epidemic  of  pneumonic  plague 
swept  the  northern  Manchurian  Provinces,  50,000 
dying  in  three  months  in  the  spring  of  19 11. 
Floods  again  devastated  the  central  Provinces. 
This  is  a common  occurrence  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Yang-tze  and  Hwang-ho  Rivers,  but  the  floods  of 
1910-1911  were  the  worst  in  forty  years.  The 
Yang-tze  was  forty  miles  wide  250  miles  from  the 
sea  and  great  areas  in  the  Ngan-hwei,  Kiang-su 
and  Hunan  Provinces  were  also  inundated.  Mil- 
lions of  people  were  made  homeless  and  the  ruin 
of  their  crops,  in  the  two  former  Provinces  for  the 
third  time  in  five  years,  added  the  horrors  of 
famine  and  pestilence.  The  Provinces  of  Shantung, 
Che-kiang,  Kiang-si  and  Hupeh  also  suffered,  some 
from  floods  and  some  from  droughts,  so  that  in  the 

3 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


seven  Provinces  affected  a total  of  600,000  fam- 
ilies, or  3,000,000  people,  were  actually  starving 
and  dying.  Men  become  blindly  desperate  in  such 
circumstances.  Superstition  suggests  that  the  gods 
are  angry.  The  Government  is  blamed,  especially 
when  its  high  officials  are  living  in  luxury,  are  do- 
ing little  to  give  help  to  the  suffering  people,  and 
are  believed  to  be  stealing  some  of  the  relief  funds 
sent  by  the  charitable  of  other  countries.  Discon- 
tent in  such  circumstances  is  easily  swollen  into  a 
rage  of  rebellion. 

It  is  clear,  however,  that  such  reasons  do  not 
adequately  account  for  the  stupendous  upheaval 
that  has  taken  place.  They  were  the  occasions  of 
the  Revolution,  not  its  sufficient  cause. 

A larger  cause  lies  in  the  fact  that  China  has 
not  been  governed  by  the  Chinese,  but  by  the  alien 
Manchus.  The  Manchus  were  originally  one  of  the 
wandering,  half-civilized  but  warlike  tribes  who 
roamed  the  extensive  region  north  and  northeast 
of  China  and  whose  origin  is  lost  in  a haze  of 
mythical  antiquity.  In  the  twelfth  century,  one 
of  these  tribes,  the  Mongols,  developed  a chieftain 
of  phenomenal  force,  one  of  the  born  leaders  of 
men,  the  celebrated  Jenghiz  Khan.  He  welded 
the  warlike  tribes  into  a nation  and  hurled  it  with 
such  ferocity  upon  Asia  that  a large  part  of  the 
then  known  world  fell  under  his  sway.  After  his 
death,  his  kingdom  gradually  disintegrated  until 

4 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


Mongolia  and  Manchuria  were  again  broken  up 
into  a confused  number  of  independent  tribes, 
which  were  usually  at  war  with  one  another  or  with 
China,  and  which  China  finally  overcame  and 
added  to  her  dependencies.  In  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, another  conqueror  arose  among  these  war- 
like peoples.  This  chieftain,  Nurhachi,  sprang 
from  a small  Manchu  tribe.  Like  Jenghiz  Khan 
several  centuries  earlier,  he  had  the  boldness  and 
skill  to  subdue  some  tribes  and  persuade  others  un- 
til he  brought  all  Manchuria  under  his  sway.  He 
fought  the  Chinese  until  he  won  independence  for 
his  people  and  founded  a dynasty  under  the  title 
of  Tien-ming.  His  son  Tien-tsung  continued  his 
father’s  fierce  warfare  against  China,  till  a revolu- 
tion broke  out  in  China.  The  rebels  succeeded  in 
capturing  Peking  in  1643.  The  timid  and  degen- 
erate Emperor  Hwai-tsung,  the  seventeenth  ruler 
of  the  Ming  Dynasty,  committed  suicide,  thus 
bringing  to  an  inglorious  end  the  Chinese  Dynasty 
which  had  ruled  since  1368.  The  commander  of 
the  northern  Imperial  army,  who  had  been  sent 
against  the  Manchus,  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
usurping  rebel  leader  and  asked  his  enemy  to  make 
common  cause  with  him  in  putting  down  the  revo- 
lution. The  Manchus  eagerly  accepted  the  invi- 
tation. With  their  vigorous  assistance,  the  revolu- 
tion was  speedily  quelled,  and  as  the  deceased 
Emperor  had  left  no  heir,  the  Manchu  chieftain 

5 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


took  the  throne  for  himself,  though  his  sudden 
death  at  this  juncture,  1644,  has  led  historians  to 
regard  his  son  and  successor,  Shun-chi,  as  the  first 
Manchu  Emperor  of  the  Ta-tsing  (Pure)  Dy- 
nasty of  China. 

The  Manchus  have  held  the  Government  ever 
since.  They  were  often  domineering  in  their  atti- 
tude toward  the  Chinese.  They  segregated  them- 
selves as  much  as  possible  from  their  Chinese 
neighbors.  Wherever  numerous  enough,  they  dwelt 
in  separate  walled  cities  or  sections  of  cities. 
Every  Manchu  had  a Government  pension,  in  re- 
turn for  which  he  was  enrolled  as  a “ Bannerman,” 
available  for  military  service.  Exempted  from  the 
necessity  of  supporting  themselves,  with  the  Gov- 
ernment in  their  hands  so  that  they  had  the  dispo- 
sition of  its  vast  revenues  and  could  take  the  most 
lucrative  posts  for  themselves,  or  fill  them  with 
Chinese  who  were  subservient  to  them,  the  robust 
warlike  vigor  of  earlier  days  began  to  wane. 
Power,  ease  and  self-indulgence  begat  physical  and 
moral  degeneration.  There  were  some  notable  ex- 
ceptions, some  of  them,  like  Tuan  Fang,  conspicu- 
ous ones;  but  the  Manchus  as  a class  are  narrow, 
corrupt  reactionaries.  It  was  inevitable  that  the 
Chinese  should  become  restive  under  the  domina- 
tion of  this  comparative  handful  of  aliens.  That 
they  endured  it  so  long  is  a marvel  which  becomes 
even  partially  intelligible  only  when  we  remember 

6 


Photograph,  Undeizvood  & Undeizvood,  N.  Y.  (See  pages  8— 9,  63,  83, 

129—136,  162—164,  168—170) 

Tzu  Hsi 


From  1861  to  1908  Tzu  Hsi  was  Km  press  Dowager;  a woman  of 
extraordinary  ability  and  force  of  character.  She  was  the  real  ruler 
of  China  for  nearly  half  a century. 


Jr* 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


their  temperament,  their  lack  of  national  unity, 
and  the  large  measure  of  self-government  which 
the  indolent  Manchus  left  to  local  communities 
which  paid  their  taxes  into  the  Imperial  treasury. 

However,  a study  of  Chinese  history  shows  that 
the  people  did  not  acquiesce  as  meekly  as  the  west- 
ern world  has  supposed.  China  has  long  been 
honeycombed  with  revolutionary  societies.  Rebel- 
lions have  repeatedly  broken  out.  Some  of  them 
were  civil  wars  of  the  first  magnitude.  The  Tai- 
ping  Rebellion  lasted  twelve  years  (1852-1864). 
The  carnage  was  so  frightful  that  estimates  of  the 
number  of  lives  that  were  sacrificed  range  from 
30,000,000  to  50,000,000,  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin, 
former  President  of  the  Imperial  University,  Pe- 
king, being  authority  for  the  latter  figure,  a number 
equaling  the  entire  population  of  the  United  States 
at  that  time.  The  Rebellion  would  probably  have 
succeeded  in  overthrowing  the  Manchus  if  it  had 
not  been  for  two  foreigners.  The  first  was  Fred- 
erick Ward,  an  American  adventurer  of  consid- 
erable military  skill.  He  accepted  a General’s 
commission  under  the  Government  and  won  a suc- 
cession of  brilliant  victories.  After  his  death,  Gen. 
Charles  George  Gordon,  a British  officer,  came  to 
the  help  of  the  sorely  beset  Government.  He 
organized  what  came  to  be  known  as  “ The  Ever- 
Victorious  Army,”  because  under  his  generalship 
it  was  never  defeated.  General  Gordon  was  a man 

7 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


of  high  Christian  character  and  he  doubtless  felt 
that  he  was  doing  humanity  sendee.  It  may  be 
doubted,  however,  whether  he  rendered  so  great 
a sendee  as  he  imagined.  However,  the  failure 
of  the  revolt  was  not  wholly  due  to  Ward  and 
Gordon.  The  Tai-pings  themselves,  flushed  with 
victory,  gave  themselves  up  to  riotous  excesses. 
Their  leader  professed  to  be  Christian,  but  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  original  purity  of  his 
motives,  his  later  years  were  a sad  travesty  on 
Christian  teaching.  Partly,  therefore,  because  of 
superior  force  without  and  partly  because  of  dis- 
sensions and  degeneracy  within,  the  Tai-pings  were 
finally  subdued,  though  China  was  long  in  recov- 
ering from  the  sorrows  and  desolations  of  that  pro- 
tracted and  bloody  strife. 

The  failure  of  the  Tai-ping  Rebellion  continued 
the  Manchus  in  power;  but  they  learned  nothing 
from  their  narrow  escape.  They  became  more  ar- 
rogant and  oppressive  than  ever.  That  such  con- 
ditions could  not  permanently  continue  was  clear. 
The  Manchus  were  saved  for  a time  by  the  rise  of 
Tzu  Hsi,  the  daughter  of  a poor  but  noble  Man- 
chu,  who  became  a favorite  concubine  of  the  weak 
Emperor  Hsien  Feng. 

Hsien  Feng’s  death  in  1861,  at  the  age  of 
thirty,  brought  to  the  Throne  Tzu  Hsi’s  five 
year  old  nephew,  Kuang  Hsu.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  Regents  was  to  issue  a decree  in  the 

8 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


name  of  the  Emperor  conferring  the  rank  of  Em- 
press Dowager  upon  both  the  widowed  Empress 
and  the  favorite  concubine,  Tzu  Hsi.  Regents 
and  widow  had  short  shift  of  power  before  the 
resolute  Tzu  Hsi.  The  Emperor,  on  attaining  his 
majority,  proved  to  be  a well-meaning  but  nerve- 
less man,  and  for  nearly  half  a century  Tzu  Hsi 
was  the  real  ruler  of  China.  She  was  a woman 
of  extraordinary  ability  and  force  of  character, 
and  under  her  iron  domination  the  Manchus  ob- 
tained new  lease  of  life.  When  the  Boxer  Upris- 
ing against  the  Manchus  occurred  in  1900,  the 
wily  Empress  Dowager  succeeded  in  diverting  it 
against  foreigners,  and  although  the  allied  armies 
of  Europe  and  America  ultimately  crushed  the  Up- 
rising and  compelled  her  to  flee  for  a time,  she 
succeeded  in  keeping  the  reins  of  power.  After 
her  death,  November  15,  1908,  a day  after  the 
death  of  the  puppet  Emperor  Kuang  Hsu,  Man- 
chu  power  began  to  crumble.  The  Prince  Regent, 
Chun,  governing  in  place  of  the  baby  successor  to 
the  Throne,  had  neither  the  strength  nor  the  wis- 
dom to  control  the  situation,  as  we  shall  note  more 
fully  in  a later  chapter.  Discontent  grew  apace 
and  the  signs  of  coming  tumult  became  ominous. 
The  revolutionary  leaders,  who  had  long  been 
secretly  perfecting  their  plans,  saw  that  the  time 
for  action  wTas  at  hand.  They  had  intended  to 
postpone  the  uprising  until  1913  in  order  to  com- 

9 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


plete  their  effort  to  win  over  the  army  and  navy. 
But  the  spirit  of  rebellion  was  becoming  too  fierce 
to  be  repressed.  The  trouble  in  Sze-chwan  began 
in  September,  19 11,  when  the  Peking  government 
attempted  to  enforce  central  control  of  railways. 
On  October  9th,  19 11,  the  accidental  explosion 
of  a bomb  in  Hankow  drew  the  attention  of  the 
police  to  a house  in  the  Russian  Settlement.  A 
search  disclosed  not  only  many  bombs  but  revo- 
lutionary documents  which  included  lists  of  revo- 
lutionists. The  leaders,  finding  secrecy  no  longer 
possible,  promptly  raised  the  standard  of  revolt 
in  the  adjacent  Provinces.  The  victorious  revolu- 
tionists marched  upon  the  three  contiguous  cities 
of  Hankow,  Wu-chang  and  Hanyang.  The  Impe- 
rial forces  made  a determined  stand  for  a while, 
but  in  almost  incredibly  short  time,  the  greater 
part  of  central  and  southern  China  was  ablaze. 

But  while  these  explanations  may  satisfy  the 
superficial  observer,  they  do  not  satisfy  the  philo- 
sophical student  or  the  Christian.  If  the  Revolu- 
tion meant  only  a change  of  officials,  our  interest 
in  it  would  be  languid.  What  matters  it  to  us 
whether  the  Manchu  Chun  or  the  Chinese  Yuan 
rules  China,  unless  they  stand  for  divergent  poli- 
cies which  make  the  conflict  between  them  of  world 
significance?  This  leads  us  to  the  real  cause  of 
the  Revolution.  It  is  the  cause  which  has  pro- 
duced an  awakening  of  many  different  nations. 

10 


Provincial  Assembly  Building,  Under  Serpent  Hill,  Wu-chang 

Headquarters  of  the  Revolution — since  burned 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


The  great  ideas  of  brotherhood,  of  justice,  of 
liberty,  and  of  righteousness,  which  Christianity 
inculcates  and  which  exerted  their  first  reconstruc- 
tive influence  in  Great  Britain,  Germany  and 
North  America,  have  been  promulgated  through- 
out the  world  and  have  begun  to  manifest  their 
inevitable  transforming  and  uplifting  power.  Men 
in  non-Christian  lands,  who  are  not  prepared  to 
give  their  personal  allegiance  to  Christ,  are  being 
swayed  more  or  less  consciously  by  the  teachings 
and  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  They  have  become  impa- 
tient of  conditions  in  which  they  formerly  acqui- 
esced either  through  indifference  or  a sense  of  help- 
lessness. New  ambitions  have  been  stirred,  new 
wants  created.  A stern  protest  against  misgovern- 
ment  and  oppression  has  been  engendered.  A new 
spirit  is  abroad,  and  with  mighty  power  it  is  over- 
turning and  recasting  ancient  institutions  and  deep- 
ly rooted  customs.  All  India  is  seething  with  this 
spirit,  and  the  British  Government  finds  itself  con- 
fronted by  administrative  difficulties  of  a more 
formidable  character  than  any  which  have  arisen 
since  the  Sepoy  Rebellion.  Changes  have  taken 
place  in  Turkey  and  Persia,  which  would  have 
been  deemed  incredible  a few  years  ago.  Revolu- 
tion in  Mexico  has  ended  the  iron  rule  of  President 
Diaz,  who,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  ruled  under 
the  forms  of  a republic,  was  a dictator  of  the  most 
autocratic  type.  Japan,  which  was  the  first  of  the 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


non-Christian  nations  to  attempt  a reorganization 
of  its  institutions  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the 
modem  world,  is  facing  both  at  home  and  in  Korea 
the  special  problems  which  grow  out  of  that  effort. 
Our  own  country  is  confronting  similar  problems 
in  the  Philippine  Islands.  And  now,  most  stupen- 
dous and  most  significant  of  all  is  the  Revolution 
in  China.  Christendom  has  been  amazed  by  the 
magnitude  and  also  by  the  swiftness  and  decisive- 
ness of  this  Revolution.  The  nation  which  has  the 
largest  population  within  a compact  area  of  any 
nation  in  the  world,  whose  people  have  hitherto 
so  lacked  national  spirit  that  they  were  not  able 
to  act  together,  a people  who  have  had  such  insuf- 
ficient means  for  intercommunication  that  it  was 
difficult  for  one  part  of  the  Empire  even  to  know 
the  conditions  in  another  part  of  the  Empire,  a 
people  who  have  been  proverbially  conservative 
and  slow  moving,  have  suddenly  shown  a unity  of 
movement  and  a solidarity  and  determination  of 
action  which  would  have  been  inconceivable 
a short  time  ago.  It  is  clear  that  an  enormous 
upheaval  and  reconstruction  are  taking  place 
throughout  great  areas  of  the  non-Christian  world. 

Where  the  ruling  class  identifies  itself  with  this 
movement  and  leads  it,  the  revolution  is  peaceful 
and  glorious,  as  it  was  in  England,  Germany  and 
Japan.  Where  the  ruling  class  blindly  and  an- 
grily resists  the  movement,  as  it  did  in  France  and 

12 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


as  It  is  now  doing  in  Russia,  the  revolution  is 
characterized  by  tumult  and  bloodshed.  China 
has  been  no  exception.  Bigoted,  fossilized  con- 
servatism would  not  yield  without  a struggle.  And 
so  in  China  the  new  and  old  grappled  once  more  in 
titanic  conflict.  Western  nations  cannot  but  be 
interested  in  such  a struggle,  for  it  is  fraught  with 
far-reaching  consequences  not  only  to  China  but 
to  the  world. 

Such  a revolution  is  not  to  be  adequately  de- 
scribed by  a mere  cataloguing  of  its  particular 
events,  an  account  of  a battle  here,  the  burning  of 
a city  there,  and  a diplomatic  negotiation  yonder. 
These,  interesting  and  even  appalling  as  they  may 
be  in  themselves,  are  after  all  but  the  concomitants 
of  the  movement.  The  movement  itself  can  be 
understood,  not  by  picturing  the  details  of  the  ad- 
vance of  the  revolutionary  army,  as  the  news- 
papers did  from  day  to  day,  but  by  considering  the 
character  of  the  Chinese  people,  their  relation  to 
the  world,  and  the  forces  which  have  been  oper- 
ating upon  them  to  produce  the  present  upheaval. 
In  the  light  of  such  a study,  we  shall  discern  the 
true  significance  of  the  Revolution  and  foresee,  in 
part  at  least,  its  certain  result,  however  protracted 
the  period  of  readjustment  may  prove  to  be. 

An  important  element  in  the  significance  of  the 
Revolution  lies  in  the  magnitude  of  the  nation 
which  it  affects.  Even  a small  country  may  influ- 

13 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


ence  the  world,  as  the  history  of  Greece,  Palestine 
and  the  Netherlands,  reminds  us.  Bulk  does  not 
always  mean  proportionate  power,  as  Africa  illus- 
trates. But  wrhen  huge  size  and  potential  quality 
are  combined,  and  when  the  whole  mighty  mass 
begins  to  move  and  to  come  into  direct  contact 
with  other  and  smaller  or  weaker  peoples,  and  all 
other  peoples  are  smaller  or  weaker  than  the 
Chinese,  the  possibilities  of  the  situation  are  almost 
overwhelming.  If  it  be  true  that  the  proper  study 
of  mankind  is  man,  the  study  of  China  is  the  most 
proper  study  of  the  world  to-day. 

The  area  of  China  proper,  including  Manchuria 
and  Mongolia,  is  3,263,630  square  miles.  If  we 
add  Tibet  and  Chinese  Turkestan,  which  China 
claims  as  dependencies,  wTe  have  1,013,540  square 
miles  more,  or  a total  area  of  4,277,  170.  Such  an 
enormous  figure  conveys  no  intelligible  idea,  and 
the  mind  must  resort  to  comparisons  to  compre- 
hend it.  We  may  therefore  remember  that  China 
is  one-third  larger  than  all  Europe,  and  that  if  the 
United  States  and  Alaska  could  be  laid  upon  it 
there  would  be  room  left  for  several  Great  Brit- 
ains.  Extending  from  the  eighteenth  parallel  of 
latitude  northward  to  the  fifty-fourth,  the  Empire 
has  every  variety  of  climate  from  Canadian  cold 
to  Cuban  heat.  It  is  a land  of  vast  forests,  of 
fertile  soil,  of  rich  minerals,  of  navigable  rivers. 
There  are  said  to  be  600,000,000  acres  of  arable 

14 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


soil,  and  so  thriftily  is  it  cultivated  that  many  parts 
of  the  Empire  are  almost  continuous  gardens  and 
fields.  Four  hundred  and  nineteen  thousand  square 
miles  are  believed  to  be  underlaid  with  coal.  Baron 
von  Richthofen  thinks  that  600,000,000,000  tons 
of  it  are  anthracite,  and  that  the  single  Province 
of  Shen-si  could  supply  the  entire  world  for  a thou- 
sand years.  When  we  add  to  this  supply  of  coal 
the  apparently  inexhaustible  deposits  of  iron  ore, 
we  have  the  two  products  on  which  material  great- 
ness largely  depends. 

Estimates  of  population  differ  widely,  because 
the  provincial  officials  do  not  count  individuals  but 
make  a more  or  less  perfunctory  return  of  the  num- 
ber of  families,  which  are  then  multiplied  by  five, 
the  assumed  average  size  of  a family.  As  Chinese 
marry  at  an  earlier  age  than  Europeans,  as  men 
who  can  afford  them  have  concubines  as  well  as 
wives,  as  men  and  women  alike  are  eager  to 
have  as  many  sons  as  possible  to  preserve  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  family,  care  for  them  in  old  age  and 
worship  their  tablets  after  death,  and  as  childless- 
ness is  the  direst  of  misfortunes  to  a Chinese,  five 
seems  a conservative  estimate  for  a family.  Some- 
thing depends,  too,  upon  whether  the  population 
of  the  eighteen  Provinces  is  meant  or  that  of  all 
the  territory  that  the  Chinese  claim ; and  something 
also  upon  the  fact  that  a local  official  had  to  send 
taxes  to  his  superiors  on  the  basis  of  the  popula- 

15 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


tion  under  him,  and  as  he  usually  pocketed  what 
he  did  not  send,  he  had  a personal  interest  in  re- 
porting on  a very  conservative  basis.  The  census 
of  1910  gave  312,420,025,  but  it  is  not  clear 
whether  this  includes  anything  outside  of  the  Prov- 
inces. The  Chinese,  European  and  American  Gov- 
ernments agreed  to  apportion  the  Boxer  Indemnity 
on  the  basis  of  407,453,029  for  those  Provinces 
alone,  and  the  Statesman’s  Year  Book  for  1910 
gives  the  total  population  of  China  and  its  de- 
pendencies as  433,553,030,  which  is  probably  as 
near  the  truth  as  we  shall  get  until  more  exact 
methods  of  census  taking  are  adopted. 

The  population  is  comparatively  spare  in  the 
outlying  regions,  2,580,000  in  Mongolia,  6,430,- 
020  in  Tibet  and  1,200,000  in  Chinese  Turkestan. 
The  scattered  and  usually  nomadic  inhabitants  are 
hardly  half  civilized  and  count  themselves  as  only 
nominally  subject  to  China.  Manchuria,  however, 
is  far  from  being  the  barren  country  that  so  many 
imagine  it  to  be.  It  is,  in  many  respects,  like  Can- 
ada, and  its  370,000  square  miles  include  rich 
agricultural  and  mineral  resources.  The  popula- 
tion, 8,500,000,  is  small  for  such  a fertile  region 
but  it  is  rapidly  increasing. 

Conditions  in  central  and  eastern  China  are  very 
different.  Consider  that  the  eighteen  Provinces 
alone,  with  an  area  about  equal  to  that  part  of 
the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  River, 

16 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


have  approximately  eight  times  the  population  of 
that  part  of  our  country.  There  is  something 
amazing  in  the  number  of  the  swarming  myriads. 
Great  cities  are  surprisingly  numerous,  while  large 
towns  and  villages  are  almost  innumerable.  In 
the  Swatow  region,  within  a territory  a hundred 
and  fifty  miles  long  and  fifty  miles  wide,  there  are 
no  less  than  ten  walled  cities  of  from  40,000  to 
250,000  inhabitants,  besides  hundreds  of  towns 
and  villages  ranging  from  a few  hundred  to  25,- 
000  or  30,000  people.  Men  never  tire  of  writing 
about  the  population  adjacent  to  New  York,  Bos- 
ton and  Chicago.  But  in  our  five  weeks’  constant 
journeying  through  the  interior  of  the  Shantung 
Province,  there  was  hardly  an  hour  in  which  mul- 
titudes were  not  in  sight.  There  are  no  scattered 
farm-houses  as  in  America,  but  the  people  live  in 
villages  and  towns,  the  latter  with  stone  walls  and 
even  the  former  often  having  mud  walls.  As  the 
country  is  comparatively  level,  it  was  easy  to  count 
them,  and  there  were  always  a dozen  or  more  in 
plain  view.  I recall  a memorable  morning.  We 
had  risen  early,  and  by  daylight  we  had  break- 
fasted and  started  our  carts  and  litters.  In  our 
enjoyment  of  the  cool,  bracing  morning  air,  we 
walked  for  several  miles.  Just  before  the  sun  rose, 
we  crossed  a low  ridge  and  from  its  crest  I counted 
no  less  than  thirty  villages  in  front  of  us,  while 
behind  there  were  about  as  many  more,  the  aver- 

I7 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


age  population  being  apparently  about  500  each. 
For  days  at  a time,  my  road  lay  through  the  nar- 
row, crowded  streets  of  what  seemed  to  be  an  al- 
most continuous  village,  the  intervening  farming 
land  being  often  hardly  more  than  a mile  in  width. 

Imagine  half  the  population  of  the  United 
States  packed  into  the  single  state  of  Missouri  and 
an  idea  of  the  situation  will  be  obtained,  for  wTith 
an  area  almost  equal  to  that  of  Missouri,  Shantung 
has  no  less  than  38,247,900  inhabitants.  It  is  the 
most  densely  populated  part  of  China.  But  the 
Province  of  Yun-nan  is  as  thickly  settled  as  Bul- 
garia and  Shan-si  as  Hungary.  Fo-kien  and  Hu- 
peh have  about  as  many  inhabitants  to  the  square 
mile  as  England  has.  Chih-li,  with  the  area  of  Illi- 
nois, has  27,990,871  people. 

Too  much  has  been  made  of  the  peculiarities  of 
the  Chinese,  ignoring  the  fact  that  many  customs 
and  traits  that  appear  peculiar  to  us  are  simply 
differences  developed  by  environment.  Eliza  Scid- 
more  affirms  that  “ no  one  knows  or  ever  really 
will  know  the  Chinese,  the  most  comprehensible, 
inscrutable,  contradictory,  logical,  illogical  people 
on  earth.”  But  a Chinese  gentleman,  who  was 
educated  in  the  United  States,  justly  retorts:  “ Be- 
hold the  American  as  he  is,  as  I honestly  found 
him — great,  small,  good,  bad,  self-glorious,  ego- 
tistical, intellectual,  supercilious,  ignorant,  super- 
stitious, vain  and  bombastic.  In  truth  so  very  re- 

18 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


markable,  so  contradictory,  so  incongruous  have  I 
found  the  American  that  I hesitate.’*  It  never  oc- 
curs to  us  to  commit  suicide  in  order  to  spite 
another.  But  in  China  such  suicides  occur  every 
day,  because  it  is  believed  that  a death  on  the 
premises  is  a lasting  curse  to  the  owner.  And  so 
the  Chinese  drowns  himself  in  an  enemy’s  well  or 
takes  poison  on  his  door-step.  A rich  Chinese  mur- 
dered an  employee  in  a British  colony,  and  know- 
ing that  inexorable  British  law  would  not  be  satis- 
fied until  some  one  was  punished,  he  hired  a poor 
Chinese  named  Sack  Chum  to  confess  to  having 
committed  the  murder  and  to  permit  himself  to 
be  hung,  the  real  murderer  promising  to  give  him 
a good  funeral  and  to  care  for  his  family.  An 
Englishman  who  thought  this  an  incredible  story 
wrote  a letter  of  inquiry  to  a Chinese  merchant 
of  his  acquaintance  and  received  the  following 
quaintly  worded  reply : 

Nothing  strange  to  Chinamen.  Sack  Chum,  old  man, 
no  money,  soon  die.  Every  day  in  China  such  thing. 
Chinaman  not  like  white  man — not  afraid  to  die. 
Suppose  some  one  pay  his  funeral,  take  care  his  family. 
“ I die”,  he  say.  Chinaman  know  Sack  Chum,  we  sup- 
pose, sell  himself  to  men  who  kill  Ah  Chee.  Somebody 
must  die  for  them.  Sack  Chum  say  he  do  it.  All  right. 
Police  got  him.  What  for  they  want  more? 

These  things  appear  odd  from  our  view-point 
and  there  are  many  other  peculiarities  that  are 

19 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


equally  strange  to  us.  But  it  may  be  wholesome 
for  us  to  remember  that  some  of  our  customs  im- 
press the  Chinese  no  less  oddly.  The  Frankfurter 
Zeitung,  Germany,  prints  the  following  from  a 
Chinese  who  had  seen  much  of  the  Europeans  and 
Americans  in  Shanghai: 

We  are  always  told  that  the  countries  of  the  foreign 
devils  are  grand  and  rich;  but  that  cannot  be  true,  else 
what  do  they  all  come  here  for?  They  jump  around  and 
kick  balls  as  if  they  were  paid  to  do  it.  Again  you  will 
find  them  making  long  tramps  into  the  country;  but  that 
is  probably  a religious  duty,  for  when  they  tramp  they 
wave  sticks  in  the  air,  nobody  knows  why.  They  have 
no  sense  of  dignity,  for  they  may  be  found  walking  with 
women.  Yet  the  women  are  to  be  pitied,  too.  On  fes- 
tive occasions  they  are  dragged  around  a room  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  most  hellish  music. 

A Chinese  gentleman  who  was  making  a tour 
of  Europe  and  America  wrote  to  a relative  in 
China  as  follows : 

You  cannot  civilize  these  foreign  devils.  They  are 
beyond  redemption.  They  will  live  for  weeks  and  months 
without  touching  a mouthful  of  rice,  but  they  eat  the 
flesh  of  bullocks  and  sheep  in  enormous  quantities.  That 
is  why  they  smell  so  badly;  they  smell  like  sheep  them- 
selves. Every  day  they  take  a bath  to  rid  themselves  of 
their  disagreeable  odors,  but  they  do  not  succeed.  Nor 
do  they  eat  their  meat  cooked  in  small  pieces.  It  is  car- 
ried into  the  room  in  large  chunks,  often  half  raw,  and 
they  cut  and  slash  and  tear  it  apart.  They  eat  with 
knives  and  prongs.  It  makes  a civilized  being  perfectly 

20 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


nervous.  One  fancies  himself  in  the  presence  of  sword- 
swallowers.  They  even  sit  down  at  the  same  table  with 
women,  and  the  latter  are  served  first,  reversing  the  order 
of  nature. 

It  will  be  seen  that  mutual  recriminations  re- 
garding national  peculiarities  are  not  likely  to  be 
convincing  to  either  party.  Human  nature  is  much 
the  same  the  world  over. 

I do  not  mean  to  give  an  exaggerated  impres- 
sion of  the  virtues  of  the  Chinese.  Undoubtedly 
they  have  grave  defects.  Official  corruption  is 
well-nigh  universal.  The  North  China  Herald 
reports  a well-informed  Chinese  gentleman  of  the 
Province  of  Chih-li  as  expressing  the  conviction 
that  one-half  of  the  land  tax  never  reaches  the 
Government.  “ But  that  is  not  all,”  said  he. 
“ There  are  other  sources  of  income  for  the  hsien 
official.  Thus  here  in  this  country,  thirty-five  or 
forty  years  ago,  the  Government  imposed  an  extra 
tax  for  the  purpose  of  putting  down  the  Tai-ping 
Rebellion,  and  the  officials  have  continued  to  col- 
lect that  tax  ever  since.  Of  course  if  the  literati 
should  move  in  the  matter  and  report  to  Paoting- 
fu,  the  magistrate  would  be  bounced  at  once;  but 
they  are  not  likely  to  do  so.  The  tax  is  a small 
one,  my  own  share  not  being  more  than  five  dollars 
or  so.” 

China’s  whole  public  service  was  rotten  with  cor- 
ruption. Offices  with  merely  nominal  salaries  or 

21 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


none  at  all  were  usually  bought  by  the  payment  of 
a heavy  bribe  and  held  for  a term  of  three  years, 
during  which  the  incumbent  sought  not  only  to  re- 
coup himself  but  to  make  as  large  an  additional 
sum  as  possible.  As  the  weakness  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  absence  of  a public  sentiment  that 
cares  left  them  free  from  restraint,  China  was  the 
paradise  of  embezzlers.  “ Any  man  who  has  had 
the  least  occasion  to  deal  with  Chinese  courts,”  says 
Dr.  C.  H.  Fenn  of  Peking,  “ knows  that  ‘ every 
man  has  his  price,’  that  not  only  every  underling 
can  be  bought,  but  that  999  out  of  every  1,000 
officials,  high  or  low,  will  favor  the  man  who  of- 
fers the  most  money.”  Banks  and  commercial 
firms  may  be  depended  upon  to  keep  their  con- 
tracts and  honor  their  paper;  but  personal  “ graft  ” 
and  untruthfulness  are  common  characteristics. 

Mr.  Ng  Poon  Chew,  editor  of  the  leading 
Chinese  daily  paper  in  America,  the  Chung  Sai 
Yat  Po  of  San  Francisco,  visited  his  native  land 
last  year  and  writes : 

When  I started  for  China  I had  a great  deal  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  existing  Chinese  Government,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  my  relations  with  Dr.  Sun  Yat  Sen  and 
other  present  leaders  of  the  revolutionary  movement  were 
rather  close.  But  when  I saw  conditions  in  Peking,  how 
the  same  crowd  filled  the  offices  and  the  same  graft  meth- 
ods were  in  vogue,  and  that  the  Manchus  were  not  mak- 
ing any  real  reforms,  I became  as  hot  a revolutionist  as 
could  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  Empire. 

22 


Railway  Station  at  Hankow 

Around  which  there  was  much  fighting 


Imperial  Maxim  Gun 

One  of  a number  used  in  battles  about  Hankow 


M>*( 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


Many  of  the  students  who  had  spent  from  ten  to  fif- 
teen years  in  this  country  refused  to  go  to  Peking  when 
they  got  back  to  China  for  the  reason  that  it  required 
not  only  influence  but  actual  cash  for  them  to  get  the  ear 
of  a Manchu  prince.  It  was  an  open  secret  that  to  get 
near  one  of  them  you  had  to  pay  at  least  300  taels,  con- 
siderably over  $200,  to  see  his  doorkeeper.  This  money 
was  supposed  to  be  divided  up  among  those  on  the  inside, 
even  the  prince  getting  a share.  The  higher  the  job  you 
were  looking  for  the  more  you  had  to  pay  to  see  the  door- 
keeper. I was  told  in  Peking  that  Prince  Ching’s  income 
from  that  sort  of  graft  alone  was  $3,000,000  a year,  and 
Prince  Su  is  about  as  big  a rascal.  Everything  was  being 
done  for  show.  The  trip  of  Prince  Tsai  Toa  and  Prince 
Tsai  Hsun  around  the  world  was  a grafting  game. 
They  did  nothing  but  accept  entertainments  on  their  way 
around  the  world  and  when  they  got  back  they  were  de- 
scribed as  having  made  a thorough  study  of  naval  and 
military  affairs  all  over  the  world.1 

Gambling  is  openly  indulged  in  by  all  classes. 
As  for  immorality,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Campbell  Gib- 
son of  Swatow  says  that  “ while  the  Chinese  are 
not  a moral  people,  vice  has  never  in  China  as  in 
India  been  made  a branch  of  religion.”  But 
Dr.  C.  H.  Fenn  of  Peking  declares  “ that  every 
village  and  town  and  city — it  would  not  be  a very 
serious  exaggeration  to  say  every  home, — fairly 
reeks  with  impurity.”  The  Chinese  are,  indeed, 
less  openly  immoral  than  the  Japanese,  while  their 
venerated  books  abound  with  the  praises  of  virtue. 

‘The  New  York  Sun,  February  3,  1912. 

23 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


But  medical  missionaries  could  tell  a dark  story 
of  the  extent  to  which  immorality  eats  into  the  very 
warp  and  woof  of  Chinese  society.  The  five  hun- 
dred monks  in  the  Lama  Temple  in  Peking  are 
notorious  not  only  for  turbulence  and  robbery, 
but  for  vice.  The  temple  is  in  a spacious  park  and 
includes  many  imposing  buildings.  The  statue  of 
Buddha  is  said  to  be  the  largest  in  China — a gilded 
figure  about  sixty  feet  high — colossal  and  rather 
awe-inspiring  in  “ the  dim  religious  light.”  But 
in  one  of  the  temple  buildings,  where  the  two 
monks  who  accompanied  us  said  that  daily  prayers 
were  chanted,  I saw  representations  in  brass  and 
gilt  that  were  quite  as  obscene  as  anything  that 
I saw  in  India.  There  is  immorality  in  lands  that 
are  called  Christian,  but  it  is  disavowed  by  Chris- 
tianity, ostracized  by  decent  people  and  under  the 
ban  of  civil  law.  But  Buddhism  puts  immorality 
in  its  temples  and  the  Government  supports  it. 
This  particular  temple  has  the  yellow  tiled  roofs 
permitted  only  on  buildings  which  are  associated 
with  the  Court  or  which  are  under  special  Imperial 
protection.  Mr.  E.  H.  Parker,  after  twenty  years’ 
experience  in  China,  wrote : “ The  Chinese  are 
undoubtedly  a libidinous  people,  with  a decided 
inclination  to  be  nasty  about  it.  . . . Rich  manda- 
rins are  the  most  profligate  class.  . . . Next  come 
the  wealthy  merchants.  . . . The  crapulous  leis- 
ured classes  of  Peking  openly  flaunt  the  worst  of 

24 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


vices.  . . . Still,  amongst  all  classes  and  ranks, 
the  moral  sense  is  decidedly  weak.  . . . Offenses 
which  with  us  are  regarded  as  almost  capital — 
in  any  case  as  infamous  crimes — do  not  count  for 
as  much  as  petty  misdemeanors  in  China.”  1 
More  patent  to  the  superficial  observer  is  a 
cruelty  which  appears  to  be  callously  indifferent  to 
suffering.  This  manifests  itself  not  only  in  bar- 
barous punishments  but  in  many  incidents  of  daily 
life.  The  day  I entered  Chefoo,  I saw  a dying 
man  lying  beside  the  road.  Hundreds  of  Chinese 
were  passing  on  the  crowded  thoroughfare.  But 
none  stopped  to  help  or  to  pity,  and  the  sufferer 
passed  through  his  last  agony  absolutely  uncared 
for  and  lay  with  glazing  eyes  and  stiffening  form, 
unheeded  by  the  careless  throng.  Twenty-four 
hours  afterwards,  he  was  still  lying  there  with  his 
dead  face  upturned  to  the  silent  sky,  while  the  mul- 
titude jostled  past,  buying,  selling  and  laughing, 
heedless  of  the  tragedy  of  human  life  so  near.  And 
when  in  Ching-chou-fu  I stopped  to  see  if  I could 
not  give  some  relief  to  a woman  who  was  writh- 
ing in  the  street,  I was  hastily  warned  that  if  I 
touched  her  unasked,  the  populace  might  hold  me 
responsible  in  the  event  of  her  death  and  perhaps 
demand  heavy  damages,  if  indeed  it  did  not  mob 
me  on  the  spot.  Undoubtedly  the  Chinese  are 
often  deterred  from  aiding  a sufferer  because  they 
1 “ China,”  272,  273. 

25 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


fear  that  if  death  occurs,  “ bad  luck  ” will  follow 
them,  a horde  of  real  or  fictitious  relatives  will 
clamor  for  damages,  and  perhaps  a rapacious 
magistrate  will  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
to  make  a criminal  charge  which  can  be  removed 
only  by  a heavy  bribe.  And  so  the  sick  and  poor 
are  often  left  to  die  in  crowded  streets,  and  drown- 
ing children  are  allowed  to  sink  within  a few  yards 
of  boats  which  might  have  rescued  them.  Every- 
where in  China,  little  attention  is  paid  to  suffer- 
ing and  many  customs  seem  utterly  heartless. 

In  spite,  too,  of  the  agnostic  teachings  of  Con- 
fucius and  their  own  practical  temperament,  the 
Chinese  are  a very  superstitious  people  and  live  in 
constant  terror  of  evil  spirits,  while  beyond  any 
other  people  known  in  the  world  they  appear  to 
be  spiritually  dead,  without  the  religious  tempera- 
ment of  the  Hindus  and  densely  ignorant  of  those 
higher  levels  of  thought  and  life  to  which  Chris- 
tianity has  raised  whole  classes  in  Europe  and 
America. 

Still,  at  a time  when  the  Chinese  are  being  vocif- 
erously abused,  it  is  only  fair  that  we  should  give 
them  credit  for  the  good  qualities  which  they  do 
possess.  Americans  do  not  wish  to  be  judged  by 
their  worst  types,  or  even  by  the  weaknesses  and 
follies  of  their  best  people.  It  is  unfair  to  com- 
pare our  highest  classes  with  the  lowest  in  China 
and  then  complacently  affirm  our  superiority.  Let 

2 6 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


us  compare  best  with  best  and  worst  with 
worst. 

There  has  been  too  much  of  a disposition  to 
think  of  the  Chinese  as  a mass,  almost  as  we  would 
regard  immense  herds  of  cattle  or  shoals  of  fish. 
Why  not  think  of  the  Chinese  as  an  individual,  as 
a man  of  like  passions  with  ourselves?  Physically, 
mentally,  and  morally  he  differs  from  us  only  in  de- 
gree, not  in  kind.  He  has  essentially  the  same  hopes 
and  fears,  the  same  joys  and  sorrows,  the  same  sus- 
ceptibility to  pain  and  the  same  capacity  for  hap- 
piness. Are  we  not  told  that  God  “ hath  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men  ”?  We  complacently 
imagine  that  we  are  superior  to  the  Chinese.  But 
discussing  the  question  as  to  what  constitutes  in- 
feriority of  race,  Benjamin  Kidd  declares  that  “ we 
shall  have  to  set  aside  many  of  our  old  ideas  on  the 
subject.  Neither  in  respect  alone  of  color,  nor 
of  descent,  nor  even  of  the  possession  of  high  in- 
tellectual capacity,  can  science  give  us  any  warrant 
for  speaking  of  one  race  as  superior  to  another.” 
Real  superiority  is  the  result,  not  so  much  of  any- 
thing inherent  in  one  race  as  distinguished  from 
another,  as  of  the  operation  upon  a race  and  with- 
in it  of  certain  uplifting  forces.  Any  superiority 
that  white  men  now  possess  is  due  to  the  action 
upon  us  of  these  forces.  But  they  can  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  Chinese  as  well  as  upon  us.  We 
should  avoid  what  George  Eliot  calls  the  popular 

27 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


mistake  of  looking  at  the  Chinese  “ as  if  they  were 
merely  animals  with  a toilet,  and  never  see  the 
great  soul  in  a man’s  face.”  We  need  in  this  study 
a true  idea  of  the  worth  and  dignity  of  man  as 
man,  to  grasp  the  great  thought  that  the  Chinese 
is  not  only  a man  but  our  brother  man,  made  like 
ourselves  in  the  image  of  God.  We  shall  get 
along  best  with  the  Chinese  if  we  remember  that 
he  is  a human  being  like  ourselves,  responsive  to 
kindness,  appreciative  of  justice,  and  capable  of 
moral  transformation  under  the  influence  of  the 
Gospel.  He  differs  from  us  not  in  the  fundamen- 
tal things  that  make  for  manhood,  but  only  in  the 
superficial  things  that  are  the  result  of  custom  and 
environment.  From  this  view-point  we  may  say 
with  Shakespeare 

There  is  some  sort  of  goodness  in  things  evil, 

Would  men  observingly  distil  it  out. 

Those  who  refer  so  contemptuously  to  the 
Chinese  might  profitably  recall  that  when,  in  Dick- 
ens’ “ Christmas  Carol,”  the  misanthropic  Scrooge 
says  of  the  poor  and  suffering:  “ If  he  be  like  to 
die,  he  had  better  do  it  and  decrease  the  surplus 
population,”  the  Ghost  sternly  replies:  “Man,  if 
man  you  be  at  heart,  not  adamant,  forbear  that 
wicked  cant  until  you  have  discovered  what  the 
surplus  is  and  where  it  is.  Will  you  decide  what 
men  shall  live,  what  men  shall  die?  It  may  be 

28 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


that  in  the  sight  of  heaven,  you  are  more  worthless 
and  less  fit  to  live  than  millions  like  this  poor  man’s 
child.  Ah,  God ! to  hear  the  insect  on  the  leaf  pro- 
nouncing on  the  too  much  life  among  his  hungry 
brothers  in  the  dust ! ” 

There  is  much  in  the  Chinese  that  is  worthy  of 
our  respectful  recognition.  Multitudes  are  indeed 
stolid  and  ignorant;  but  multitudes,  too,  have 
strong,  intelligent  features.  Thousands  of  chil- 
dren have  faces  as  bright  and  winning  as  those  of 
American  children.  Europe  and  America  have  not 
done  justice  to  the  character  of  the  Chinese.  I 
do  not  refer  to  the  bigoted  and  corrupt  Manchu 
officials,  or  to  the  lawless  barbarians  who,  like  the 
“ lewd  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  ” in  other  lands, 
are  ever  ready  to  follow  the  leadership  of  a dema- 
gogue. ' But  I refer  to  the  Chinese  people  as  a 
whole.  Their  view-point  is  so  radically  different 
from  ours  that  we  have  often  harshly  misjudged 
them,  when  the  real  trouble  has  lain  in  our  failure 
to  understand  them.  Let  us  be  free  enough  from 
prejudice  and  passion  to  respect  a people  whose 
national  existence  has  survived  the  mutations  of  a 
definitely  known  historic  period  of  thirty-seven 
centuries  and  of  an  additional  legendary  period  that 
runs  back,  no  man  knows  how  far,  into  the  haze 
of  a hoary  antiquity;  who  are  frugal,  patient,  in- 
dustrious and  respectful  to  parents,  as  Americans 
are  not;  whose  astronomers  made  accurate  re- 

29 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


corded  observations  200  years  before  Abraham  is 
said  to  have  left  Ur;  who  used  firearms  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian  era;  who  first  grew  tea, 
manufactured  gunpowder,  made  pottery,  glue  and 
gelatine;  who  wore  silk  and  lived  in  houses  when 
our  ancestors  wore  the  undressed  skins  of  wild  ani- 
mals and  slept  in  caves;  who  invented  printing  by 
movable  types  500  years  before  that  art  was  known 
in  Europe;  who  discovered  the  principle  of  the 
mariners’  compass  without  which  the  oceans  could 
not  be  safely  crossed;  who  conceived  the  idea  of 
artificial  inland  waterways  and  dug  a canal  600 
miles  long;  who  made  mountain  roads  which,  when 
new,  in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams, 
probably  equaled  in  engineering  and  construction 
anything  of  the  kind  ever  built  by  Romans;  and 
who  invented  the  arch  to  which  our  modem  archi- 
tecture is  so  greatly  indebted.  Germans  began 
using  paper  in  1190,  but  Sven  Hedin  found  Chi- 
nese paper  1,650  years  old  and  there  is  evidence  that 
paper  was  in  common  use  by  the  Chinese  150 
years  before  Christ.  European  business  was  con- 
ducted on  the  basis  of  coin  or  barter  until  a few 
hundred  years  ago ; but  long  before  that,  the  Chi- 
nese had  banks  and  issued  bills  of  exchange.  The 
British  Museum  has  a bank-note  issued  by  Hong 
Wu,  Emperor  of  China,  in  1368. 

The  Chinese  exalt  learning  and,  alone  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  have  made  scholarship  a 

30 


Science  Building,  Nanking  Christian  University 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


test  of  fitness  for  official  positions.  True,  that 
scholarship  until  recently  moved  along  narrow  lines 
of  Confucian  classics,  but  surely  such  knowledge 
was  a higher  qualification  for  office  than  the  brute 
strength  which  for  centuries  gave  precedence 
among  our  ancestors.  A Chinese  writer  explains 
as  follows  the  gradations  in  relative  worth  as 
they  are  esteemed  by  his  countrymen : “ First,  the 
scholar,  because  mind  is  superior  to  wealth  and 
it  is  the  intellect  that  distinguishes  man  above  the 
lower  orders  of  beings  and  enables  him  to  provide 
food  and  raiment  and  shelter  for  himself  and  for 
other  creatures;  second,  the  farmer,  because  the 
mind  cannot  act  without  the  body  and  the  body 
cannot  exist  without  food  so  that  farming  is  essen- 
tial to  the  existence  of  man,  especially  in  civilized 
society;  third,  the  mechanic,  because  next  to  food, 
shelter  is  a necessity  and  the  man  who  builds 
a house  comes  next  in  honor  to  the  man  who  pro- 
vides food;  fourth,  the  tradesman,  because,  as 
society  increases  and  its  wants  are  multiplied,  men 
to  carry  on  exchange  and  barter  become  a neces- 
sity and  so  the  merchant  comes  into  existence;  his 
occupation — shaving  both  sides,  the  producer  and 
consumer — tempts  him  to  act  dishonestly,  hence 
his  low  grade;  fifth,  the  soldier  stands  last  and 
lowest  in  the  list  because  his  business  is  to  destroy 
and  not  to  build  up  society;  he  consumes  what 
others  produce  but  produces  nothing  himself  that 

3i 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


can  benefit  mankind;  he  is,  perhaps,  a necessary 
evil.”  1 

While  the  Government  of  China  was  a paternal 
despotism  in  form  and  while  it  was  often  weak  and 
always  corrupt  and  tyrannical  in  practice,  never- 
theless there  was  a larger  measure  of  individual 
freedom  than  might  be  supposed.  “ There  are  no 
passports,  no  restraints  on  liberty,  no  frontiers,  no 
caste  prejudices,  no  food  scruples,  no  sanitary 
measures,  no  laws  except  popular  customs  and 
criminal  statutes.  China  is  in  many  senses  one  vast 
republic,  in  which  personal  restraints  have  no  ex- 
istence.” 2 

We  must  not  form  our  opinion  from  the  Chinese 
whom  we  see  in  the  United  States.  True,  most  of 
them  are  kindly,  patient  and  industrious,  while 
some  are  highly  intelligent.  But,  with  compara- 
tively few  exceptions,  they  are  Cantonese  coolies, 
from  the  lower  classes  of  the  single  province  of 
Kwang-tung.  The  Chinese  might  as  fairly  form 
their  opinion  of  Americans  from  our  lower  classes. 
But  there  are  able  men  in  the  Celestial  Empire. 
Bishop  Andrews  returned  from  China  to  charac- 
terize the  Chinese  as  “ a people  of  brains.”  After 
General  Grant’s  tour  around  the  world,  he  told 
Senator  Stewart  that  the  most  astonishing  thing 
which  he  had  seen  was  that  wherever  the  Chinese 

1 Quoted  by  Beach,  “ Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  Tang,”  45,  46. 

* E.  H.  Parker,  “China,”  169. 

32 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


had  come  into  competition  with  the  Jew,  the  Chi- 
nese had  driven  out  the  Jew.  We  know  the  per- 
sistence of  the  Jew,  that  he  has  held  his  own 
against  every  other  people.  And  yet  this  race, 
which  has  so  abundantly  demonstrated  its  ability 
to  cope  with  the  Greek,  the  Slav  and  the  Teuton, 
finds  itself  outreached  in  cunning,  outworn  in  per- 
sistence and  overmatched  in  strength  by  the  Chi- 
nese. The  canny  Scotchman  and  the  shrewd  Yan- 
kee are  alike  discomfited  by  the  Chinese.  Those 
who  do  not  believe  it  should  ask  the  American  and 
European  traders  who  are  being  crowded  out  of 
Saigon,  Shanghai,  Bangkok,  Singapore,  Penang, 
Batavia  and  Manila.  In  many  of  the  ports  of  Asia 
outside  of  China,  the  Chinese  have  shown  them- 
selves to  be  successful  colonizers,  able  to  meet  all 
competition,  so  that  to-day  they  own  the  most  valu- 
able property  and  control  the  bulk  of  the  trade. 
It  is  true  that  the  Chinese  are  inordinately  con- 
ceited; but  shades  of  the  Fourth  of  July  orator, 
screams  of  the  American  eagle ! it  requires  consid- 
erable self-possession  in  a Yankee  to  criticize  any 
one  else  on  the  planet  for  conceit.  The  Chinese 
have  not,  at  least,  padded  a census  to  make  the 
world  believe  that  they  are  greater  than  they  really 
are.  A British  consular  official,  who  has  spent 
many  years  in  China  and  who  speaks  the  language, 
declares  that  in  his  experience  of  the  Chinese  their 
fidelity  is  extraordinary,  their  sense  of  responsi- 

33 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


bility  in  positions  of  trust  very  keen,  and  that  they 
have  a very  high  standard  of  gratitude  and  honor. 
“ I cannot  recall  a case,”  he  says,  “ where  any 
Chinese  friend  has  left  me  in  the  lurch  or  played 
me  a dirty  trick;  and  few  of  us  can  say  the  same 
of  our  own  colleagues  and  countrymen.” 

Many  quote  against  the  Chinese  the  familiar 

for  ways  that  are  dark 

And  tricks  that  are  vain, 

The  heathen  Chinee  is  peculiar. 

But  whoever  reads  the  whole  poem  will  see  the 
force  of  the  London  Spectator’s  opinion  that  it  is 
a “ satire  of  the  American  selfishness  which  is  the 
main  strength  of  the  cry  against  the  cheap  labor 
of  the  Chinese,”  and  that  “ it  would  not  be  easy 
for  a moderately  intelligent  man  to  avoid  seeing 
that  Mr.  Bret  Harte  wished  to  delineate  the  Yan- 
kee as  not  at  all  disposed  to  take  offense  at  the 
‘ cheap  labor  ’ of  his  Oriental  rival,  until  he  has 
discovered  that  he  could  not  cheat  the  cheap  laborer 
half  so  completely  as  the  cheap  laborer  could  cheat 
him.” 

It  is  common  for  people  to  praise  the  Japanese 
and  to  sneer  at  the  Chinese.  All  honor  to  the 
Japanese  for  their  splendid  achievements.  With 
marvelous  celerity  they  have  adopted  many  mod- 
ern ideas  and  inventions;  they  are  worthy  of  the 
respect  they  receive.  But  the  Chinese  unite  to  an 

34 


OUTBREAK  AND  BACKGROUND 


intelligence  equal  to  that  of  the  Japanese,  the  plod- 
ding persistence  of  the  Germans;  and  the  old  fable 
of  the  tortoise  and  the  hare  is  as  true  of  nations  as 
it  is  of  individuals.  Unquestionably,  the  Chinese 
are  the  most  virile  race  in  Asia.  A quaint  sign  in 
Shanghai  unconsciously  tells  a world  fact:  “Fur- 
naces and  umbrellas  mended,  any  mortal  thing  can 
do.”  “ Wherever  a Chinese  can  get  a foot  of 
ground  and  a quart  of  water  he  will  make  some- 
thing grow.”  Colquhoun  quotes  von  Richthofen 
as  saying  that  “ among  the  various  races  of  man- 
kind, the  Chinese  is  the  only  one  which  in  all 
climates,  the  hottest  and  the  coldest,  is  capable  of 
great  and  lasting  activity.”  And  he  states  as  his 
own  opinion:  “She  (China)  has  all  the  elements 
to  build  up  a great  living  force.  One  thing  alone 
is  wanted — the  will,  the  directing  power.  That 
supplied,  there  are  to  be  found  in  abundance  in 
China  the  capacity  to  carry  out,  the  brains  to  plan, 
the  hands  to  work.” 


35 


CHAPTER  II 


TRANSFORMATIONS  WROUGHT  BY  STEAM  AND 
COMMERCE 

Upon  this  vast  mass  of  isolated  people,  the 
forces  of  the  modem  world  began  to  operate. 
Steam  established  new  contacts  with  other  nations. 
Fifty  years  ago,  China  was  so  far  away  in  time 
that  it  had  no  appreciable  effect  upon  American 
life.  News  traveled  slowly.  Even  the  stupen- 
dously frightful  Tai-ping  Rebellion  was  imperfect- 
ly known  by  the  American  people  and  most  of  those 
who  did  know  of  it  were  but  languidly  interested 
in  what  they  regarded  as  a remote  event  of  small 
concern  to  the  world.  Hunter  Corbett  and  Calvin 
Mateer,  young  missionaries  who  sailed  for  China 
in  1863,  were  six  months  in  reaching  their  destina- 
tion in  a sailing  vessel  of  small  tonnage,  few  con- 
veniences and  no  comforts. 

In  our  day,  such  vessels  have  given  way  to  swift 
steamers.  The  Trans-Siberian  Railway  brings  Ber- 
lin within  thirteen  days  of  Peking,  and  Dr.  Cor- 
bett has  made  a comfortable  journey  home  in  twen- 
ty-one days.  It  is  startlingly  significant  of  the  change 
that  has  taken  place  that  Russia  and  Japan,  nations 

36 


STEAM  AND  COMMERCE 


7,000  miles  apart  by  land  and  a still  greater  dis- 
tance by  water,  were  able  in  the  opening  years  of 
the  twentieth  century  to  wage  war  in  a region 
which  one  army  could  reach  in  four  weeks  and  the 
other  in  four  days,  and  that  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  could  receive  daily  information  as  to  the 
progress  of  the  conflict.  A half  century  ago,  Rus- 
sia could  no  more  have  sent  a large  army  to 
Manchuria  than  to  the  moon.  Jules  Verne’s  story, 
“Around  the  World  in  Eighty  Days  ” was  deemed 
fantastic  in  1873;  but  in  19 11,  Andre  Jager- 
schmidt  traveled  around  the  world  in  thirty-eight 
days.  This  means  that  China  is  nearer  New  York 
than  California  once  was.  Can  such  a vast  mass 
of  population,  and  one  with  such  characteristics  as 
we  have  noted,  come  within  a fortnight  of  our 
Pacific  Coast  and  three  weeks  of  the  Atlantic  Coast 
without  affecting  us?  Clearly  we  must  make  the 
Chinese  better  or  they  will  make  us  worse. 

This  facility  of  intercommunication  has  also 
brought  Europe  and  America  to  China  and  re- 
sulted in  an  inrush  of  western  influences  which 
have  exerted  enormous  revolutionary  power. 

Western  manufacturers  began  to  send  to  China 
their  locomotives,  steam  engines,  electrical  appa- 
ratus, labor-saving  machinery  and  other  products 
of  American  inventive  genius.  Missionaries  had 
a large  part  in  the  development  of  this  trade, 
though  this  was  not  their  object  and  they  reaped 

37 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 

no  profit  from  it.  When  a Chinese  gentleman  saw 
the  missionary’s  watch,  he  wanted  one,  and  the 
w7atch  and  clock  factories  of  the  world  responded. 
Women  saw  the  missionary’s  wife  make  her  cloth- 
ing wTith  a sewing  machine,  and  instantly  they  must 
have  machines.  So  great  a demand  has  followed 
that  one  company  in  America  recently  offered  a 
missionary  a salary  of  $15,000  if  he  would  take 
its  superintendency  of  sales  in  China.  He  declined 
the  offer,  for  he  did  not  go  to  China  to  sell  sew- 
ing machines.  The  Chinese  saw  the  missionary’s 
house  lighted  by  kerosene  oil,  and  straightway  they 
refused  to  be  content  wTith  a burning  rag  in  a dish 
of  vegetable  oil  which  had  given  the  dim  and 
smoky  light  of  olden  days.  To-day,  lamps  may  be 
found  in  all  houses  of  the  better  class  and  in  myri- 
ads of  humble  dwellings,  and  the  five-gallon  tins 
of  American  oil  companies  are  in  every  village  of 
the  country7,  the  exports  to  China  in  a recent  year 
amounting  to  $14,500,000  gold.  Some  years  ago, 
a firm  in  Portland,  Oregon,  sent  an  agent  to  Hong- 
kong to  introduce  its  flour.  The  rice-eating  people 
of  the  southern  Provinces  did  not  want  it;  but  the 
agent  stayed,  gave  away  samples,  explained  its  use 
and  pushed  his  goods  so  persistently  that  after 
years  of  labor  and  the  expenditure  of  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars,  a market  was  created.  Now  that 
firm  sells  in  such  quantities  that  its  numerous  mills 
must  run  day  and  night  to  supply  the  demand  and 

38 


STEAM  AND  COMMERCE 


the  annual  profits  run  into  six  figures.  The  cotton 
growers  of  the  United  States  find  their  chief  for- 
eign market  in  China.  The  universal  clothing  of 
all  but  the  wealthy,  who  wear  silk,  is  made  of  cot- 
ton cloth,  and  American  milling  companies  send 
more  of  their  output  to  China  than  to  all  the  rest 
of  the  outside  world  combined. 

China  has  thus  become  one  of  the  great  markets 
of  western  nations.  Agents  of  European  and 
American  manufacturers  are  in  most  of  the  lead- 
ing cities  and  the  products  of  the  white  man’s  fields 
and  factories  may  be  seen  in  the  remotest  interior 
towns.  Everywhere  articles  of  foreign  manufac- 
ture are  in  demand,  and  shrewd  Chinese  merchants 
are  stocking  their  shops  with  increasing  quantities 
of  European  and  American  goods.  The  Church 
building  at  Wei-hsien  typifies  the  elements  that  are 
entering  China,  for  it  contains  Chinese  brick,  Ore- 
gon fir  beams,  German  steel  binding-plates  and 
rods,  Belgian  glass,  Manchurian  pine  pews  and 
British  cement.  Foreign  concessions  in  the  treaty 
ports  are  lighted  by  electricity  and  business  blocks 
are  equipped  with  telephones,  and  as  the  Chinese 
nobles  and  merchants  see  the  brilliancy  of  the  for- 
mer and  the  convenience  of  the  latter,  they  want 
them  too.  At  a banquet  given  to  the  foreign  min- 
isters by  the  late  Emperor  and  Empress  Dow- 
ager, in  the  Summer  Palace,  the  distinguished 
guests  cut  York  ham  with  Sheffield  knives  and 

39 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 

drank  French  wines  out  of  German  glasses.  Peo- 
ple of  all  ranks,  who  but  a decade  or  two  ago 
were  satisfied  with  the  crudest  appliances  of  primi- 
tive life,  are  now  learning  to  use  steam  and  elec- 
trical machinery,  to  like  Oregon  flour,  Chicago 
beef,  Pittsburgh  pickles  and  London  jam,  and  to 
see  the  utility  of  foreign  wire,  nails,  cutlery,  drugs, 
paints  and  chemicals. 

Nor  are  the  Chinese  contenting  themselves  with 
importations  of  the  foreigners’  goods;  they  are  be- 
ginning to  manufacture  for  themselves.  They  are 
establishing  their  own  water,  steam  and  electric 
power  plants  and  building  mills  of  all  kinds.  Ar- 
senals with  modern  machinery  turn  out  rifles  and 
ammunition.  The  Han-yang  Iron  and  Steel 
Works,  opposite  Hankow,  begun  in  1894,  now  em- 
ploy over  4,000  workmen  and  not  only  make  iron 
and  steel  for  China’s  railways,  bridges  and  war- 
ships, but  produce  pig  iron  so  much  cheaper  than 
it  can  be  produced  in  America  that  the  company 
can  undersell  the  Carnegie  Steel  Works  in  New 
York,  and  Mr.  Charles  M.  Schwab,  President  of 
the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works,  testified  before  the 
Finance  Committee  of  the  United  States  Senate, 
February  8,  1912,  that  he  found  it  cheaper  to  im- 
port Chinese  pig  iron  for  his  works  in  San  Fran- 
cisco than  to  ship  it  from  his  own  plant  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  missionaries  having  convinced  the 
people  that  there  are  no  demons  in  the  ground  to 

40 


Iron  Works  at  Han-Yang 


STEAM  AND  COMMERCE 


be  offended  by  digging,  and  foreign  mining  com- 
panies having  shown  what  rich  deposits  are  avail- 
able, the  Chinese  are  forming  oil  and  mining  com- 
panies of  their  own.  The  Government  has  offered 
generous  rewards  for  developing  mineral  resources 
and  has  established  an  official  bureau  of  surveying 
and  assaying,  manned  by  Chinese  graduates  of  the 
best  American  engineering  schools. 

The  era  of  commercial  development  in  China  has 
now  fairly  begun  and  it  is  working  vital  social  and 
economic  changes,  just  as  the  corresponding  era  did 
in  Europe  and  America.  The  effect  is  most  visible 
in  cities.  Peking,  for  example,  now  has  well  paved 
streets,  sidewalks,  sewers,  street  cars,  telephones, 
electric  lights  and  a uniformed  police  force.  Scores 
of  other  cities  are  undergoing  like  transformation. 
Splendid  carriage  roads  are  no  longer  confined  to 
the  foreign  settlements  in  treaty  ports;  they  may 
be  found  in  the  native  city  of  Tien-tsin  and  in  Nan- 
king, Tsinan-fu,  Tsing-chou-fu  and  many  other 
cities.  The  transformation  is  almost  startling  to 
one  who  saw  the  old  China  of  even  a dozen  years 
ago.  The  contrasts  between  my  first  and  second 
visits  to  China  in  1901  and  1909  amazed  me  in 
spite  of  all  that  I had  read,  and  the  development 
since  1909  has  been  even  more  amazing. 

The  extension  of  trade  has  naturally  been  ac- 
companied not  only  by  the  increase  of  foreign 
steamship  lines  to  the  ports  of  China,  but  by  the 

4i 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


development  of  almost  innumerable  coastwise  and 
river  vessels.  Many  of  these  are  owned  and  op- 
erated by  the  Chinese  themselves;  but  as  steamers 
came  with  the  foreigners  and  as  they  drove  out  the 
native  junks  and  brought  beggary  to  their  owners,, 
the  masses  of  the  Chinese  could  not  be  expected  to 
feel  kindly  towards  such  competition,  however  de- 
sirable the  steamer  may  appear  to  be  from  the 
view-point  of  a more  disinterested  observer.  But 
this  interference  with  native  customs  has  been  far 
less  revolutionary  than  that  of  the  railways. 

The  pressure  of  foreign  commerce  upon  China 
naturally  resulted  in  demands  for  concessions  to 
build  railways,  in  order  that  the  country  might  be 
opened  up  for  traffic  and  the  products  of  the  in- 
terior be  more  easily  and  quickly  brought  to  the 
coast.  The  first  railroad  in  China  was  built  by 
British  promoters  in  1876.  It  ran  from  Shanghai 
to  Wu-sung,  only  fourteen  miles.  Great  was  the 
excitement  of  the  populace,  and  no  sooner  was  it 
completed  than  the  Government  bought  it,  tore  up 
the  roadbed,  and  dumped  the  engines  into  the 
river.  That  ended  railway-building  till  1881,  when, 
largely  through  the  influence  of  Wu  Ting-fang, 
late  Chinese  Minister  to  the  United  States,  the 
Chinese  themselves,  under  the  guidance  of  an  Eng- 
lish engineer,  built  a little  line  from  the  Kai-ping 
coal  mines  to  Taku,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pai-ho 
River  and  the  ocean  gateway  to  the  capital.  See- 

42 


STEAM  AND  COMMERCE 


ing  the  benefit  of  this  road,  the  Chinese  raised  ad- 
ditional funds,  borrowed  more  from  the  English, 
gradually  extended  it  144  miles  to  Shan-hai-kwan 
on  the  north,  and  ran  another  line  to  Tien-tsin, 
and  thence  onward  seventy-nine  miles  to  Peking. 
This  system  forms  the  Imperial  Railway  and  be- 
longs to  the  Chinese  Government,  though  bonds 
are  held  by  the  English  who  loaned  money  for 
construction,  and  English  and  American  engineers 
built  and  superintended  the  system.  The  local 
staff,  however,  is  Chinese. 

No  more  concessions  were  granted  to  foreigners 
until  1895,  but  then  they  were  given  so  rapidly 
that  in  1899,  when  the  Boxer  Society  began  to  at- 
tract attention,  there  were  not  only  566  miles  in 
operation,  but  6,000  miles  were  projected,  and  en- 
gineers were  surveying  rights  of  way  through 
whole  Provinces.  Much  of  the  completed  work 
was  undone  during  the  destructive  madness  of  the 
Boxer  Uprising,  but  reconstruction  began  as  soon 
as  the  tumult  was  quelled.  Now  there  are  6,300 
miles  in  operation  and  several  thousand  more  are 
projected.  The  Peking-Hankow  Railway  connects 
with  the  line  which  is  being  rapidly  pushed  from 
Canton  to  Hankow.  Tien-tsin  and  Nanking  are 
the  termini  of  another  trunk  line,  while  shorter 
railways  are  in  several  other  Provinces.  The  rail- 
road, when  once  built,  is  soon  appreciated  by  the 
thrifty  Chinese,  who  swallow  their  prejudices  and 

43 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


patronize  it  in  such  enormous  numbers,  and  ship 
by  it  such  quantities  of  their  produce,  that  the 
business  speedily  becomes  remunerative,  while  the 
population  and  the  resources  of  the  country  are  so 
great  as  to  afford  almost  unlimited  opportunity 
for  the  development  of  traffic. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  describe  in  adequate 
terms  the  far-reaching  effect  upon  China  and  the 
Chinese  of  this  extension  of  modem  railways.  We 
have  had  an  illustration  of  its  meaning  in  Amer- 
ica, where  the  transcontinental  railroads  resulted 
in  the  amazing  development  of  our  western  plains 
and  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  effect  of  such  a devel- 
opment in  China  can  hardly  be  overestimated,  for 
China  has  more  than  ten  times  the  population  of 
the  trans-Mississippi  region  and  its  territory  is 
vaster  and  equally  rich  in  natural  resources.  As  I 
traveled  through  the  land,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
almost  the  whole  northern  part  of  the  Empire  was 
composed  of  illimitable  fields  of  wheat  and  millet, 
and  that  in  the  south  the  millions  of  paddy  plots 
formed  a rice  field  of  continental  proportions. 
Hidden  away  in  China’s  mountains  and  underlying 
her  boundless  plateaus  are  immense  deposits  of 
coal  and  iron;  while  above  any  other  country  on 
the  globe,  China  has  the  labor  for  the  development 
of  agriculture  and  manufacture.  Think  of  the  influ- 
ence not  only  upon  the  Chinese  but  upon  the  whole 
world  when  railroads  not  only  carry  the  grain  of 

44 


STEAM  AND  COMMERCE 


Hunan  to  the  famine  sufferers  in  Shantung,  but 
when  they  bring  the  coal,  iron  and  other  products 
of  Chinese  soil  and  industry  within  reach  of  steam- 
ship lines  running  to  Europe  and  America.  To 
make  all  these  resources  available  to  the  rest  of 
the  world,  and  in  turn  to  introduce  among  the 
teeming  myriads  of  Chinese  the  products  and  in- 
ventions of  Europe  and  America,  is  to  bring  about 
an  economic  transformation  of  stupendous  pro- 
portions. 

Imagine,  too,  what  changes  in  Chinese  commu- 
nities are  involved  in  the  substitution  of  the  loco- 
motive for  the  coolie  as  a motive  power,  the 
freight  car  for  the  wheelbarrow  in  the  shipment 
of  produce,  and  the  passenger  coach  for  the  cart 
and  the  mule-litter  in  the  transportation  of  people. 
Orientals,  who  for  uncounted  centuries  plodded 
along  in  perfect  contentment,  now  find  that  the 
whole  order  of  living  to  which  they  and  their 
fathers  had  become  adapted  is  being  shaken  to 
its  foundation  by  the  iron  horse  of  the  foreigner. 
Millions  of  coolies  earned  a living  by  carrying  mer- 
chandise in  baskets  or  wheeling  it  in  barrows  at 
five  cents  a day.  A single  railroad  train  does  the 
work  of  a thousand  coolies,  and  thus  deprives 
them  of  their  means  of  support.  A locomotive 
brings  economic  and  physical  benefits,  the  appli- 
ances which  mitigate  the  poverty  and  barrenness 
of  existence  and  increase  the  ability  to  provide  for 

45 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


the  necessities  and  the  comforts  of  life.  In  one 
of  our  great  locomotive  works  in  America,  I once 
saw  twelve  engines  in  construction  for  China,  and 
my  imagination  kindled  as  I thought  what  a loco- 
motive means  amid  that  great  swarm  of  human- 
ity, how  impossible  it  is  that  any  village  through 
which  it  has  once  run  should  continue  to  be  what 
it  was  before,  how  its  ^whistle  puts  to  flight  a 
whole  brood  of  superstitions  and  summons  a long- 
slumbering  people  to  new  life.  Railways  have  in- 
augurated in  China  a new  era,  and  when  a new 
era  is  inaugurated  for  one-quarter  of  the  human 
race,  the  other  three-quarters  are  certain  to  be 
affected  in  many  ways. 

Many  other  illustrations  of  a changed  condition 
might  be  cited.  Knowledge  increases  wants,  and 
the  Chinese  is  acquiring  knowledge.  He  demands 
a hundred  things  to-day  that  his  grandfather  never 
heard  of,  and  when  he  goes  to  the  shops  to  buy  his 
daily  food,  he  finds  that  the  new  market  for  it 
which  the  foreigner  has  opened  has  increased  the 
price. 

This  movement  is,  in  some  respects  at  least, 
beneficial.  It  means  a higher  and  broader  scale  of 
life  and  such  a life  always  costs  more  than  a low 
and  narrow  one.  The  economic  revolution  brings 
not  only  higher  prices  but  wider  intellectual  and 
spiritual  horizons  and  a general  enlarging  and  up- 
lifting of  the  whole  range  of  human  activity.  There 

4 6 


STEAM  AND  COMMERCE 


are  indeed  some  vicious  influences  accompanying 
this  movement.  But  surely  it  is  for  good  and  not 
for  evil  that  the  farmers  of  Hunan  can  now  ship 
their  peanuts  to  England  and  with  the  proceeds 
vary  the  eternal  monotony  of  a rice-diet;  that  all 
China  should  discover  the  advantages  of  roads 
over  rutty,  corkscrew  paths,  of  sanitation  over 
heaps  of  putrid  garbage,  and  of  wooden  floors 
over  filth-encrusted  ground.  Christianity  inevi- 
tably involves  some  of  these  things,  and  to  some 
extent  the  awakening  of  Asia  to  the  need  of  them 
is  a part  of  the  beneficent  influence  of  a Gospel 
which  always  and  everywhere  renders  men  dissat- 
isfied with  a narrow,  squalid  existence. 

But  these  altered  conditions  have  not  yet 
brought  the  ability  to  meet  them.  The  cost  of  liv- 
ing has  increased  faster  than  the  resources  of  the 
people.  Europe  and  America  are  trying  to  force 
their  own  manufactures  on  Asia  and  to  take  in 
return  only  what  they  please.  In  time,  this  will 
probably  right  itself,  in  part  at  least.  While  the 
farmers  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  find  living  much 
more  expensive  than  it  was  two  generations  ago, 
they  also  find  that  they  get  more  for  their  wheat 
and  that  they  eat  better  food,  wear  better  clothes 
and  build  better  houses  than  did  their  grandfathers. 
The  era  of  railroads  ended  the  days  of  cheap  liv- 
ing, but  it  ended  as  well  days  when  the  farmer  had 
to  confine  himself  to  a diet  of  corn-bread  and  salt 

47 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


pork,  when  his  home  was  destitute  of  comforts  and 
his  children  had  little  schooling  and  no  books. 

The  same  changes  will  doubtless  take  place  in 
China.  That  great  country  is  capable  of  produc- 
ing enormous  quantities  of  food,  minerals  and  both 
raw  and  manufactured  articles  which  the  rest  of 
the  world  will  sooner  or  later  want.  But  only  a 
small  part  of  the  total  population  has  thus  far 
profited  largely  by  this  wider  market.  Where  one 
man  amasses  wealth  in  this  way,  100,000  men  find 
that  aggressive  foreign  traders  exploit  their  wares 
by  flooding  the  shops  with  tempting  articles  which 
they  can  ill  afford  to  buy.  The  difficulty  is  rapidly 
becoming  acute. 

So  the  economic  revolution  in  China  is  charac- 
terized, as  such  revolutions  usually  are  in  Europe 
and  America,  by  wide-spread  unrest  and,  in  some 
places,  by  violence.  The  oldest  of  nations  is  the 
latest  to  undergo  the  throes  of  the  stupendous 
transformation  from  which  the  newrest  is  slowly  be- 
ginning to  emerge.  The  transition  period  in  China 
will  be  longer  and  perhaps  more  trying,  as  the 
numbers  involved  are  vaster  and  more  conserva- 
tive ; but  the  ultimate  result  cannot  fail  to  be  bene- 
ficial both  to  China  and  to  the  wrhole  world. 

It  is  therefore  too  late  to  discuss  the  question 
whether  the  character  and  religions  of  this  na- 
tion should  be  disturbed.  They  have  already 
been  disturbed  by  the  inrush  of  new  life  and  by 

48 


STEAM  AND  COMMERCE 


the  ways  as  well  as  by  the  products  of  the  white 
man.  A crowd  of  Chinese  recently  went  to  one 
of  the  most  famous  temples  in  Canton,  hacked  off 
the  heads  of  the  idols  and  dragged  them  through 
the  streets  amid  the  derisive  laughter  of  the  people. 
That  superstition,  however,  is  consistent  with 
modern  invention  appears  in  the  fact  that  a parade 
in  Tsing-tau,  to  placate  the  evil  spirits  that  were 
believed  to  be  withholding  rain,  included  as  the 
chief  feature  of  the  procession  an  image  of  a god 
riding  in  an  automobile  and  ostensibly  driving  it. 

China  has  no  more  imperative  need  to-day  than 
the  spiritualization  of  her  secular  life,  the  lifting  of 
her  people  above  the  sordid  plane  of  material 
things,  the  teaching  that  the  new  era  calls  for  new 
ideals  as  well  as  for  railways  and  steamships.  The 
Christian  men  and  women  of  the  West  have  a con- 
tribution to  make  which  will  mean  far  more  for 
China  than  mechanical  appliances.  Whether  in- 
creased commercial  and  economic  facilities  prove 
a blessing  or  a curse  depends  upon  the  men  who 
use  them;  and  China’s  profoundest  need  is  for 
more  Christian  workers  who  will  concern  them- 
selves with  men.  A tobacco  company  has  an- 
nounced its  determination  to  put  its  cigarettes  into 
the  hands  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  China. 
Brewers,  distillers  and  gum  manufacturers  have 
like  ambitions.  Will  the  readers  of  this  book  help 
to  bring  a nobler  force  to  bear? 

49 


CHAPTER  III 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  GROWTH  OF  POLIT- 
ICAL UNREST 

The  political  ideas  of  the  modem  world  have 
also  surged  into  China  with  all  their  revolutionary 
force.  As  the  vastness  of  the  country  and  its  re- 
sources became  better  known,  western  nations 
eagerly  sought  to  extend  their  influence  into  this 
attractive  field.  They  deemed  it  necessary,  also,  to 
protect  the  rich  commercial  interests  described  in 
the  preceding  chapter.  Trouble  soon  followed. 
To  understand  China’s  reception  of  foreigners,  the 
following  considerations  must  be  borne  in  mind. 

First,  the  conservative  temperament  of  the  Chi- 
nese. It  is  true  but  misleading,  to  say  that  they 
have  “ no  word  or  written  character  for  patriotism 
but  1 50  ways  of  writing  the  characters  for  good 
luck  and  long  life.”  While  the  Chinese  may  have 
little  love  for  country,  they  have  an  intense  devo- 
tion to  their  own  customs.  For  nearly  5,000  years, 
while  other  empires  had  risen,  flourished  and 
fallen,  they  had  lived  apart,  sufficient  unto  them- 
selves, cherishing  their  own  ideals,  plodding  along 
their  well-worn  paths,  ignorant  of  or  indifferent  to 

50 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 


the  progress  of  the  western  world,  mechanically 
memorizing  dead  classics,  and  standing  compara- 
tively still  amid  the  tremendous  onrush  of  modern 
civilization.  I say  comparatively  still,  for  if  we 
carefully  study  Chinese  history,  we  shall  find  that 
this  vast  nation  has  not  been  so  inert  as  we  have 
long  supposed.  The  very  revolutions  and  internal 
commotions  of  all  kinds  through  which  China  has 
passed  would  have  prevented  mere  inertia.  But 
when  we  compare  these  movements  and  the 
changes  that  they  have  wrought  with  the  kaleido- 
scopic transformations  in  Europe  and  America, 
China  appears  to  have  been  a stationary  nation. 
She  has  moved  less  in  centuries  than  western  peo- 
ples have  in  decades.  The  restless  Anglo-Saxon 
is  alternately  irritated  and  awed  by  this  massive 
solidity,  not  to  say  stolidity.  There  is,  after  all, 
something  impressive  about  it,  the  impressiveness 
of  a mighty  glacier  which  moves  slowly  and 
majestically.  So  the  duration  of  an  ordinary 
nation’s  life  appears  insignificant  as  compared  with 
the  almost  timeless  majesty  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 

Second,  the  vastness  of  China.  Her  territory 
and  population  are  so  enormous  that  her  people 
found  sufficient  scope  for  their  energies  within 
their  own  borders.  They  therefore  felt  indepen- 
dent of  outsiders.  The  typical  European  nation 
is  so  limited  in  area  and  is  so  near  to  equally  civ- 
ilized and  powerful  nations  that  it  could  not  if  it 

51 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


would  live  unto  itself.  The  situation  of  most  peo- 
ples forces  them  into  relations  with  others.  But 
China  had  a quarter  of  the  human  race  and  a tenth 
of  the  habitable  globe  to  herself,  with  no  neighbors 
who  had  anything  that  she  really  cared  for.  It 
was  inevitable,  therefore,  that  a naturally  conser- 
vative people  should  become  a self-centred  and 
self-satisfied  people. 

Third,  the  character  of  adjacent  nations.  None 
of  them  was  equal  to  the  Chinese  in  civilization 
and  learning,  while  in  territory  and  population 
they  were  relatively  insignificant.  Even  Japan  has 
only  an  eighth  of  China’s  population,  while  her  re- 
markable progress  in  intelligence  and  power  is  a 
matter  of  a generation.  Until  recently,  indeed, 
Japan  was  as  backward  as  China  and  was  not 
ashamed  to  receive  many  of  her  ideas  from  her 
larger  neighbor,  as  the  number  of  Chinese  char- 
acters in  the  Japanese  language  plainly  shows.  As 
for  China’s  other  neighbors,  who  were  they? 
Weak  nations,  which  abjectly  sent  tribute  by  com- 
missioners who  groveled  before  the  august  Em- 
peror of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  or  barbarous  tribes, 
which  the  Chinese  regarded  about  as  Americans 
regard  the  aboriginal  Indians. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  when  for- 
eigners from  the  distant  West  sought  to  force  their 
way  into  China,  the  Chinese,  knowing  nothing  of 
the  countries  from  which  they  came,  should  have 

52 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 


regarded  them  in  accordance  with  their  traditional 
belief  and  policy  regarding  the  inferiority  of  all 
outsiders. 

The  resultant  difficulty  was  intensified  by  the  in- 
difference, to  use  no  harsher  term,  of  the  foreigner 
to  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  are  a very  ceremonious 
people,  extremely  punctilious  in  all  social  relations 
and  disposed  to  regard  a breach  of  etiquette  as  a 
cardinal  sin.  “ Face  ” is  a national  institution 
which  must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards.  No  one 
can  get  along  with  the  Chinese  who  does  not  re- 
spect it.  “ It  is  an  integral  part  of  both  Chinese 
theory  and  practice,”  says  Dr.  Arthur  H.  Smith, 
“ that  realities  are  of  much  less  importance  than 
appearances.  If  the  latter  can  be  saved,  the  for- 
mer may  be  altogether  surrendered.  That  is  the 
essence  of  that  mysterious  ‘ face  * of  which  we  are 
never  done  hearing  in  China.  Pope’s  familiar  line 
might  be  the  Chinese  national  motto : ‘ Act  well 
your  part,  there  all  the  honor  lies.’  The  preserva- 
tion of  ‘ face  ’ frequently  requires  that  one  should 
behave  in  an  arbitrary  and  violent  manner  merely 
to  emphasize  his  protests  against  the  course  of  cur- 
rent events.  He  must  fly  into  a violent  rage,  he 
must  use  reviling  and  perhaps  imprecatory  lan- 
guage, else  it  will  not  be  evident  to  spectators  that 
he  is  aware  just  what  ought  to  be  done  by  a person 
in  his  precise  situation ; and  then  he  will  have  ‘ no 
way  to  descend  from  the  stage,’  or  in  other  words 

53 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


he  will  have  lost  ‘ face.’  . . . An  American  bawls 
to  a passer-by:  ‘ Hello!  is  this  the  road  to  Bos- 
ton?* Whereas  a Chinese  would  say:  ‘Great 
Elder  Brother,  may  I borrow  your  light  to  inquire 
whether  this  is  the  Imperial  highway  to  Peking  ? ’ 
An  American  street-car  conductor  is  hoarse  from 
incessantly  shouting : ‘ Step  lively,  lady,  step  live- 
ly ! ’ We  hear  that  under  similar  circumstances  a 
Japanese  conductor  quietly  waits  for  every  passen- 
ger, and  when  an  intersecting  route  is  reached 
politely  inquires : ‘ Does  any  honored  guest  desire 
a transfer  to  the  Shimbashi  line?  ’ ” 

In  these  circumstances,  it  was  very  important 
that  the  relations  of  white  men  to  China  should  be 
characterized  not  only  by  justice  but  by  tact  and 
respect  for  the  feelings  and  customs  of  the  people. 
The  chief  cause  of  China’s  hostility  to  foreigners 
undoubtedly  lies  in  the  notorious  and  often  con- 
temptuous disregard  of  these  things  by  the  major- 
ity of  the  white  men  who  entered  China  and  by  the 
Governments  which  backed  them.  Nor  did  for- 
eigners stop  here.  The  early  trading  ships  were 
usually  armed,  and  they  did  not  hesitate  to  use 
force  in  effecting  their  purpose. 

But  the  nations  of  Europe,  becoming  convinced 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  Chinese  market,  pressed 
resolutely  on ; and  with  the  hope  of  creating  a bet- 
ter understanding  and  of  opening  ports  to  trade, 
they  sent  envoys  to  China.  The  arrival  of  these 

54 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 


envoys  precipitated  a new  controversy,  for  the  Chi- 
nese Government  from  time  immemorial  consid- 
ered itself  the  supreme  Government  of  the  world, 
and,  not  being  accustomed  to  receive  the  agents 
of  other  nations  except  as  inferiors,  was  not  dis- 
posed to  accord  the  white  man  any  different 
treatment.  The  result  was  a series  of  collisions 
followed  by  territorial  aggressions  that  were  nu- 
merous enough  to  infuriate  a more  peaceably  dis- 
posed people  than  the  Chinese. 

A full  account  of  the  negotiations  would  require 
a separate  volume.  For  two  generations,  nation 
after  nation  sought  to  protect  its  growing  interests 
in  China  and  to  secure  recognition  from  the  Chi- 
nese Government,  only  to  be  met  by  opposition 
that  was  sometimes  courteous  and  sometimes  sul- 
len, but  always  inflexible  until  broken  down  by 
force.  Each  envoy  was  politely  informed  that  the 
Chinese  official  concerned  was  extremely  busy,  that 
to  his  deep  regret  it  would  not  be  possible  to  grant 
an  immediate  conference,  but  that  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible he  would  have  pleasure  in  selecting  a “ felic- 
itous day  ” on  which  they  could  hold  a “ pleasant 
interview  ” ; and  when  the  envoy,  worn  out  by  the 
never-ending  procrastination,  finally  gave  up  in  dis- 
gust and  announced  his  intention  of  returning 
home,  the  typical  Chinese  official  blandly  replied, 
as  the  notorious  Yeh  did  to  United  States  Minister 
Marshall  in  January,  1854 : “ I avail  myself  of  the 

55 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


occasion  to  present  my  compliments,  and  trust  that, 
of  late,  your  blessings  have  been  increasingly  tran- 
quil.” 1 Scores  of  European  and  American  diplo- 
matic agents  had  substantially  the  same  experience. 

The  treaty  of  1858  gave  some  notable  advan- 
tages to  foreigners,  for  it  conceded  the  right  of 
other  nations  to  send  diplomatic  representatives  to 
Peking,  permission  to  foreigners  to  travel,  trade, 
and  reside  in  an  increasing  number  of  places,  and, 
on  the  persistent  initiative  of  the  French  envoy, 
powerfully  supported  by  the  famous  Dr.  S.  Wells 
Williams,  Christianity  -was  especially  recognized. 

“ The  charge  that  the  famous  Toleration  Clause 
regarding  Christian  missions  was  smuggled  into 
the  treaty  of  1858  is  far  from  the  truth,”  writes 
Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin,  who  aided  Dr.  Williams 
in  conducting  the  negotiations.  An  edict  granting 
toleration  had  been  issued  as  early  as  1845.  This 
had  been  followed  by  more  than  ten  years  of 
missionary  work  at  the  newly  opened  ports,  quite 
sufficient  to  make  them  acquainted  with  the  char- 
acter of  Protestant  missions.  Of  Roman  Catholic 
missions  prior  to  the  edict,  they  had  centuries  of 
experience.  Moreover,  during  our  negotiations  at 
Tien-tsin,  they  had  ample  time  for  a fresh  study 
of  the  subject,  the  draft  for  our  treaty  being  under 
daily  discussion  for  more  than  a week  before  it 
was  signed.  Nor  was  our  draft  the  first  to  bring  up 

‘Foster,  “American  Diplomacy  in  the  Orient,”  205,  213. 

56 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 

the  question  of  toleration.  The  Russian  Treaty 
signed  on  June  13th  (five  days  in  advance  of 
ours)  contained  one  explicit  provision  for  the  toler- 
ation of  Christianity  under  the  form  of  the  Greek 
Church;  but  it  made  no  reference  to  Protestant  or 
Roman  Catholic.  Not  only  was  the  American 
Treaty  the  first  to  give  these  a legal  status,  it 
gave  the  Chinese  a sample  of  Christian  teaching 
in  the  Golden  Rule,  which  Dr.  Williams  inserted 
in  the  article  expressly  to  show  them  what  they 
were  agreeing  to.  Never  were  negotiations  more 
open  and  above  board.” 

It  was  not  until  1861,  that  legations  were  estab- 
lished in  Peking.  But  while  this  gave  foreign  na- 
tions a foothold  at  the  capital,  it  did  not  by  any 
means  give  them  the  recognition  that  they  de- 
manded, for  their  intercourse  with  the  Court  was 
still  hedged  about  with  exactions  and  indignities. 
The  Chinese  were  slow  in  coming  to  full  recogni- 
tion of  diplomatic  intercourse.  But  western  na- 
tions steadily  persisted.  One  by  one  new  conces- 
sions were  wrung  from  the  reluctant  Chinese,  and 
finally  China  was  forced  to  accept  the  new  order 
and  to  send  her  own  ministers  and  consuls  to  the 
capitals  of  Europe  and  America.  A Foreign  Of- 
fice, or  Department  of  State,  as  Americans  would 
call  it,  was  established  in  Peking  under  the  name 
of  Tsung-li  Yamen.  It  was  considered  by  the 
Chinese,  however,  as  rather  a subordinate  bureau 

57 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


and  it  was  so  managed  that  it  was  characterized 
by  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin  as  a micrometer  screw 
contrived  to  diminish  motion,  and  by  Lord  Salis- 
bury as  merely  a machine  to  register  the  amount 
of  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  it. 

Diplomatic  relations,  once  established,  soon  be- 
gan to  give  the  Chinese  a better  knowledge  of 
other  peoples.  Students,  travelers,  merchants  and 
coolies  who  had  emigrated  to  America  wrote  back 
descriptions  of  what  they  found.  The  schools  and 
colleges  founded  by  Christian  missionaries  were 
acquainting  their  pupils  with  geography,  political 
economy,  the  constitutions  and  governmental  meth- 
ods of  modern  nations.  The  Chinese  began  to 
learn  that  their  political  structure  was  not  neces- 
sarily the  best.  Ere  long,  the  great  ideas  of  jus- 
tice and  the  rights  of  the  people,  which  underlie 
modern  progressive  government,  worked  their  way 
among  all  classes  of  society,  and  impatience  de- 
veloped against  abuses  which  had  long  been  meek- 
ly accepted  as  inevitable. 

The  United  States  is  more  favorably  regarded 
by  the  Chinese  than  most  foreign  nations,  partly 
because  a larger  proportion  of  Americans  in  China 
are  missionaries,  so  that  the  prevailing  type  is  of 
a higher  and  more  sympathetic  class  than  the  pre- 
vailing type  of  Europeans,  who  are  more  largely 
of  the  commercial  class,  and  partly  because  the 
Chinese  know  that  America  has  no  territorial  am- 

58 


Secretarial  and  Teaching  Staff  of  Shanghai  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 


bitions  in  China.  But  America  is  far  from  being 
loved,  for  the  Chinese  are  greatly  irritated  by  the 
ill-treatment  of  their  countrymen  in  the  United 
States.  The  Exclusion  Law  has  been  enforced  in 
a way  that  the  American  Government  would  not 
tolerate  if  China  were  to  adopt  it  against  Amer- 
icans. Injuries  to  the  lives  and  property  of  Chinese 
in  the  United  States  are  far  more  common  than 
injuries  to  Americans  in  China,  and  the  Chinese 
get  less  redress.  The  Chinese  Minister  to  Wash- 
ington said  in  an  address  in  Chicago  a few  years 
ago:  “ More  Chinese  subjects  have  been  murdered 
by  mobs  in  the  United  States  during  the  last  twen- 
ty-five years  than  all  the  Americans  who  have  been 
murdered  in  China  in  similar  riots.  ...  In  every 
instance  where  Americans  have  suffered  from 
mobs,  the  authorities  have  made  reparation  for  the 
losses,  and  rarely  has  the  punishment  of  death 
failed  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  guilty  offenders.  On 
the  other  hand,  I am  sorry  to  say  that  I cannot 
recall  a single  instance  where  the  penalty  of  death 
has  been  visited  on  any  member  of  the  mobs  in  the 
United  States  guilty  of  the  death  of  Chinese,  and 
in  only  two  instances  out  of  many  has  indemnity 
been  paid  for  the  losses  sustained  by  the  Chinese.”1 

It  is  not  without  significance  that  the  white 
man  is  generally  designated  in  China  as  “ the  for- 
eign devil.” 

1 Quoted  by  A.  H.  Smith,  “ China  and  America  Today,”  165. 

59 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


Not  content  with  innumerable  aggressions  and 
extorted  treaty  concessions,  western  nations  boldly 
discussed  the  dismemberment  of  China  as  certain 
to  come,  and  writers  disputed  as  to  which  country 
should  possess  the  richest  parts  of  the  Empire 
whose  impotence  to  defend  itself  was  taken  for 
granted.  Chinese  Legations  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica reported  these  discussions  to  their  superiors  in 
Peking.  The  English  papers  in  China  republished 
some  of  the  articles  and  added  many  of  their  own, 
so  that  speedily  all  the  better-informed  Chinese 
came  to  know  that  foreigners  regarded  China  as 
“ the  carcass  of  the  East.” 

Nor  was  all  this  talk  empty  boasting.  China 
saw  that  France  had  absorbed  Cambodia,  Annam, 
Tong-king,  and  had  designs  on  Siam;  that  Great 
Britain  was  lord  of  India,  Egypt,  and  the  Straits 
Settlements ; that  Germany  was  pressing  her  claims 
in  Asiatic  Turkey;  that  Russia  had  absorbed  Si- 
beria and  was  striving  to  obtain  control  of  Pales- 
tine, Persia  and  Korea;  and  that  Italy  was  trying 
to  take  Abyssinia.  Moreover  the  Chinese  per- 
ceived that  of  the  numerous  islands  of  the  world, 
France  had  the  Loyalty,  Society,  Marquesas,  New 
Hebrides  and  New  Caledonia  groups,  and  claimed 
the  Taumotu  or  Low  Archipelago;  that  Great 
Britain  had  the  Fiji,  Cook,  Gilbert,  Ellice,  Phoe- 
nix, Tokelau  and  New  Zealand  groups,  northern 
Borneo,  Tasmania,  and  the  whole  of  continental 

60 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 


Australia,  besides  a large  assortment  of  miscel- 
laneous islands  scattered  over  the  world  wherever 
they  would  do  the  most  good;  that  Germany  pos- 
sessed the  Marshall  group,  Northeast  New  Guinea, 
and  divided  with  England  the  Solomons;  that 
Spain  had  the  Ladrones,  the  Carolines,  the  Philip- 
pines, and  some  enormously  valuable  holdings  in 
the  West  Indies;  that  the  Dutch  ruled  Java,  Su- 
matra, the  greater  part  of  Borneo,  all  of  Celebes 
and  the  hundreds  of  islands  eastward  to  New 
Guinea,  half  of  which  was  under  the  Dutch  flag; 
that  the  new  world  power  on  the  American  con- 
tinent took  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  in  two  swift 
campaigns  drove  Spain  out  of  the  West  Indies  and 
the  Philippines,  not  to  return  them  to  their  inhabi- 
tants but  to  keep  them  herself;  and  that  in  the 
Samoan  and  Friendly  Islands,  resident  foreigners 
owned  about  everything  worth  having  and  left  to 
the  native  chiefs  only  what  the  foreigners  did  not 
want  or  could  not  agree  upon.  As  for  mighty 
Africa,  the  Berlin  Conference  of  1884  was  the  sig- 
nal for  a game  of  grab  on  so  colossal  a scale  that 
to-day  out  of  Africa’s  11,980,000  square  miles, 
France  owns  3,074,000,  Great  Britain  2,818,000, 
Turkey  1,672,000,  Belgium  900,000,  Portugal 
834,000,  Germany  864,000,  Italy  596,000,  and 
Spain  263,000 — a total  of  10,980,000,  or  ten- 
elevenths  of  the  whole  continent ; and  doubtless  the 
Powers  will  take  the  remaining  eleventh  whenever 

61 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


they  feel  like  it.  “ Gobbling  the  globe/’  this  proc- 
ess has  been  forcefully  if  inelegantly  termed.  No 
wonder  that  the  white  race  has  been  bitterly  de- 
scribed as  “ the  most  arrogant  and  rapacious,  the 
most  exclusive  and  intolerant  race  in  history.” 

We  can  understand,  therefore,  the  alarm  of  the 
Chinese  as  they  saw  the  greedy  foreigners  descend 
upon  their  own  shores  in  such  ways  as  to  justify 
the  fear  that  what  remained  of  the  Celestial  Em- 
pire would  be  speedily  reduced  to  vassalage.  Rus- 
sia took  virtual  possession  of  Manchuria;  Germany 
seized  Kiao-chou  Bay  in  the  Province  of  Shantung; 
England’s  fortified  base  at  Hong-kong  com- 
manded the  mouth  of  the  Pearl  River,  the  gate- 
way to  all  South  China ; France  entrenched  in  Tong- 
king  was  moving  northward  and  was  suspected  of 
having  designs  on  Yun-nan  and  the  island  of  Hai- 
nan; while  several  European  Powers  ruled  Shang- 
hai, the  key  to  the  vast  and  populous  Yang-tze 
Valley.  In  all  China’s  coast  line  of  3,000  miles, 
she  did  not  have  a single  harbor  in  which  she 
could  mobilize  her  own  ships  without  the  consent 
of  the  foreigner.  A proud  people  were  wounded 
in  their  most  sensitive  feelings  by  the  ruthless  and 
arrogant  way  in  which  foreigners  broke  down  their 
cherished  wall  of  separation  from  the  rest  of  the 
world  and  trampled  upon  their  venerated  customs 
and  institutions. 

Shall  we  pretend  innocent  surprise  that  the  irri- 
62 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 

tation  of  the  Chinese  rapidly  grew?  Suppose  that 
after  the  murder  of  the  Chinese  in  Rock  Springs, 
Wyoming,  some  years  ago,  a Chinese  fleet  had 
seized  New  York,  Boston,  Charleston,  and  New 
Orleans.  Would  the  American  people  have  made 
any  protest?  Would  the  lives  of  Chinese  have 
been  safe  on  our  streets?  And  was  it  an  entirely 
base  impulse  that  led  the  Chinese  violently  to  op- 
pose the  forcible  seizure  of  their  country  by  aliens? 
The  Empress  Dowager  declared  in  her  now  fa- 
mous Edict:  “ The  various  Powers  cast  upon  us 
looks  of  tiger-like  voracity,  hustling  each  other  in 
their  endeavors  to  be  first  to  seize  upon  our  inner- 
most territories.  They  think  that  China,  having 
neither  money  nor  troops,  would  never  venture  to 
go  to  war  with  them.  They  fail  to  understand, 
however,  that  there  are  certain  things  which  this 
Empire  can  never  consent  to,  and  that  if  hard 
pressed,  we  have  no  alternative  but  to  rely  upon  the 
justice  of  our  cause,  the  knowledge  of  which  in  our 
breasts  strengthens  our  resolves  and  steels  us  to 
present  a united  front  against  our  aggressors.” 

This  would  have  been  called  patriotic  if  it  had 
emanated  from  the  ruler  of  any  other  people. 

The  march  of  the  allied  armies  upon  Peking, 
the  capture  of  the  city,  the  flight  of  the  Emperor 
and  Empress  Dowager,  and  the  humiliating  terms 
of  peace  convinced  the  Chinese  of  their  helpless- 
ness before  the  modern  equipment  of  western  na- 

63 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


tions  and  of  the  necessity  of  learning  the  methods  of 
the  white  man  if  they  were  ever  to  hold  their  own 
against  him.  But  defeat,  while  always  hard  to 
bear,  does  not  always  embitter  the  conquered 
against  the  conqueror.  In  considering,  therefore, 
the  effect  upon  the  Chinese,  wTe  must  bear  in  mind 
not  so  much  the  fact  of  defeat  as  the  subsequent 
treatment  which  they  received.  Captain  Frank 
Brinkley,  editor  of  The  Japan  Mail,  wrote:  “ It 
sends  a thrill  of  horror  through  every  white  man’s 
bosom  to  learn  that  forty  missionary  women  and 
twenty-five  little  children  were  butchered  by  the 
Boxers.  But  in  Tung-chou  alone,  a city  where  the 
Chinese  made  no  resistance  and  where  there  was  no 
fighting,  573  Chinese  women  of  the  upper  classes 
committed  suicide  rather  than  survive  the  indignities 
they  had  suffered.  Women  of  the  lowrer  classes 
fared  similarly  at  the  hands  of  the  soldiers,  but 
were  not  unwilling  to  survive  their  shame.  With 
what  show  of  consistency  is  the  Occident  to  de- 
nounce the  barbarity  of  the  Chinese,  when  Occi- 
dental soldiers  go  to  China  and  perpetrate  the  very 
acts  which  constitute  the  very  basis  of  barbarity?  ” 
In  the  pillaging  of  property,  savages  could  not 
have  been  more  lawless  than  the  white  men  from 
“ the  highly  civilized  nations  of  the  West.”  “ It 
is  not  literally  true,”  said  a resident  of  Peking, 
“ that  every  house  in  Peking  was  looted.  There 
wrere  some  places  in  obscure  alleys  and  in  many  of 

64 


Paoting-Fu  Martyrs’  Memorial 

In  memory  of  missionaries  who  perished  in  the  Boxer  uprising,  1900 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 


the  innumerable  and  almost  impenetrable  cul-de- 
sacs  with  which  the  capital  abounds  that  escaped. 
But  persistent  inquiry  appears  to  leave  no  doubt 
of  the  fact  that  practically  every  yamen  in  the  city 
has  been  rummaged,  and  practically  there  is  noth- 
ing left  of  the  contents  of  any  of  them.”  Even 
the  places  dedicated  to  science  and  religion  were 
not  spared.  The  celebrated  Astronomical  Obser- 
vatory had  not  an  instrument  left.  Every  one 
was  carried  oh  by  the  orders  of  men  high  in  au- 
thority at  the  French  and  German  Legations,  and 
the  whole  place  was  totally  wrecked.  What  pos- 
sible excuse  could  there  have  been  for  destroying 
a place  for  studying  the  heavens? 

It  was,  of  course,  inevitable  that  much  havoc 
should  be  wrought  amid  the  tumult  of  war.  It  was 
necessary  that  supplies  for  half-naked  and  fam- 
ished besieged  thousands  should  be  taken  from  de- 
serted grain  and  clothing-shops.  It  was  expedient 
that  certain  public  buildings  should  be  destroyed 
as  a warning  for  the  future.  But  why  were  sol- 
diers and  thieves  allowed  to  steal  the  bric-a-brac 
and  furniture  and  break  the  mirrors  of  the  Em- 
peror’s personal  apartments,  wantonly  shatter 
beautiful  columns,  deface  rare  works  of  art,  punch 
holes  in  gilded  statues,  smash  the  heads  of 
exquisitely-carved  figures,  and  wreck  venerable 
places  associated  with  learning  and  art?  The 
world  is  poorer  for  some  of  this  havoc,  and  it  will 

65 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


be  a generation  before  it  can  be  remedied,  if  in- 
deed some  of  the  edifices  are  ever  restored  to  their 
former  beauty.  Can  we  wonder  that  the  Chinese 
continue  to  hate  and  fear  the  foreigner?  The  New 
York  Times  declared  that  “ every  outrage  perpe- 
trated on  foreigners  in  China  has  been  repaid  ten- 
fold by  the  brutalities  perpetrated  by  the  allied 
armies.”  “ It  is,”  added  the  editor,  “ simply  mon- 
strous that  the  armies  of  Christian  nations,  sent 
out  to  punish  barbarism  and  protect  the  rights  of 
foreigners  in  China,  should  themselves  be  guilty 
of  barbarism.  Revenge  has  been  accompanied  by 
mean  and  cruel  and  flagrant  robber}’.  The  story 
is  one  to  fill  all  rational  minds  with  disgust  and 
shame.” 

The  exasperation  of  the  Chinese  was  not  dimin- 
ished by  the  virtual  fortifications  which  the  foreign 
Powers  have  since  erected  in  the  Imperial  capital. 
Most  of  the  Legations  took  advantage  of  the  panic 
and  confusion  which  followed  the  raising  of  the 
siege,  to  seize  large  tracts  adjoining  their  former 
compounds.  Massive  walls  were  built  and  cannon 
mounted  upon  them.  Over  the  water-gate  in  the 
city  wall,  through  which  the  allied  troops  entered 
the  city,  the  Powers  cut  a new  gateway  which  they 
hold  and  guard.  They  took  possession  of  all  that 
part  of  the  city  wall  which  commands  Legation 
Street,  constructed  several  barricades  and  built  a 
fort  upon  it  opposite  the  German  Legation.  For- 

66 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 


eign  soldiers  patrol  that  wall  night  and  day.  On 
the  other  side  of  the  Legations,  a wide  space  was 
cleared  by  destroying  hundreds  of  Chinese  dwell- 
ings and  shops,  and  no  trees  or  obstructions  of  any 
kind  are  allowed  on  that  space,  which  can  thus  be 
swept  by  rifle  and  machine-gun  fire  in  the  event  of 
future  trouble.  Ample  stores  of  arms,  ammuni- 
tion and  food  have  been  stored  within  the  Lega- 
tions, so  that  if  another  outbreak  should  occur,  the 
Legations  will  not  be  as  weak  as  they  were  in  the 
memorable  summer  of  1900. 

The  Legations  would  be  deemed  lacking  in  ordi- 
nary prudence  if  they  did  not  guard  against  the 
repetition  of  their  grievous  experiences  during  the 
Boxer  Uprising.  But  looking  at  the  matter  from 
the  view-point  of  the  Chinese,  can  we  marvel  that 
it  is  resented?  Would  not  a European  Government 
be  stung  to  the  quick  if  other  nations  were  to  for- 
tify themselves  in  that  fashion  at  its  capital? 
Would  Americans  endure  it  at  Washington? 

The  forcible  re-establishment  of  politically 
peaceful  relations  with  western  nations  was  fol- 
lowed by  a new  vehemence  of  commercial  exploita- 
tion which  was  hardly  less  irritating  to  the  Chinese. 
The  victory  of  Japan  over  Russia,  which  had  been 
regarded  by  the  Chinese  as  the  most  powerful  of 
western  nations,  awakened  new  hope  of  successful 
resistance.  They,  like  the  Japanese,  are  more  and 
more  disposed  to  resent  the  leadership  of  foreign- 

67 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 

ers.  They  feel  an  irritation,  which  we  should  be 
reasonable  enough  to  understand,  in  realizing  that 
the  new  railway  thoroughfares  of  the  country  are 
largely  in  the  hands  of  outsiders.  Only  1,930 
miles  of  the  6,300  in  the  Empire  are  under  Chi- 
nese control.  Russians  hold  1,077  miles,  Belgians 
903,  Japanese  702,  Germans  684,  English  608, 
and  French  396.  China  is  determined  to  put  an 
end  to  this,  and  the  Government  refuses  to  grant 
any  more  railway  concessions  to  foreigners.  They 
propose  to  manage  their  own  railways,  operate 
their  own  mines  and,  in  general,  control  their  own 
affairs. 

“ The  movement  of  what  you  call  the  Young 
China  party,”  writes  a Chinese  gentleman  in  the 
Shanghai  News , “ erratic  perhaps  now  in  many 
ways,  has  its  root  in  the  intense  feelings  of  the 
Chinese  people  that  they  have  not  been  fairly 
treated  by  foreigners.  The  true  aspiration  at  the 
bottom  of  this  movement  which  is  claiming  China 
for  the  Chinese  is  to  ask  for  a readjustment  of  our 
relations  with  foreigners  on  a just  basis.  In  a 
word,  the  Chinese  people  want  the  foreigners  in 
China  to  reform  by  knocking  out  of  their  heads  the 
idea  that  God  has  created  the  three  hundred  odd 
million  Chinese  for  the  British  and  other  nations 
to  trade  upon,  to  make  a living  out  of  them.  The 
only  way  to  abate  the  fever  and  intensity  of  feel- 
ing against  foreigners  is  to  begin  the  reform  in 

68 


DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  AND  POLITICAL  UNREST 

China  at  both  ends,  on  the  foreign  side  as  well  as 
on  the  Chinese  side.” 

The  war  between  Italy  and  Turkey  has  strength- 
ened this  feeling.  Whatever  the  provocation  for 
that  war,  the  fact  remains  that  the  vernacular  press 
of  Asia  quite  generally  regarded  it  as  another  evi- 
dence that  the  white  man’s  ambitions  in  Asia  and 
Africa  are  typified  by  the  machine-gun  rather  than 
by  the  New  Testament.  The  National  Review 
of  China  cynically  remarks : 

When  we  call  to  mind  the  great  pressure  that  has 
been  brought  to  bear  to  get  Turkey,  Morocco,  Persia  and 
China  out  of  the  ancient  ways,  and  when  we  note  the  fate 
that  has  awaited  each  of  them  at  the  hands  of  sympathetic 
Europe,  how  Persia  has  been  bullied  almost  to  death  and 
Russian  intriguers  have  supported  her  ex-Shah’s  attempt  at 
a counter-revolution,  how  Morocco  has  been  the  cockpit  of 
Europe  for  the  past  few  months,  how  Turkey  is  now 
being  driven  at  the  point  of  the  sword  to  commit  national 
hara-kiri,  and  how  China  is  alternately  clubbed  on  the 
head  and  stroked  on  the  back  by  her  dear  friends  in  the 
north  or  across  the  water,  with  the  Powers  of  Europe  ob- 
serving a cynical  neutrality,  as  they  are  doing  at  the  mo- 
ment in  Europe,  we  are  not  in  the  least  surprised  that 
these  ancient  nations  just  re-awakening  are  somewhat 
slow  to  grasp  the  iron  hand  of  friendship  that  is  held  out 
to  them.  The  price  of  all  victory  is  humility,  but  it  need 
not  involve  humiliation  deliberately  heaped  up  by  those 
who  count  themselves  to  have  attained.  Yet  that  is  what 
too  often  the  awakening  nations  of  the  East  have  to  endure 
in  order  to  be  permitted  to  take  a place  on  a platform  a 

69 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


little  lower  than  the  angels  of  the  West.  Is  it  that  Europe 
fears  Asia,  now  that  Asia  is  waking  up? 

Truly,  the  Christianization  of  the  contact  of  the 
West  and  the  East  is  one  of  the  most  solemn  and 
imperative  of  the  necessities  of  this  time  of  times. 
This  a problem  of  modern  international  relation- 
ships which  every  Christian  man  and  woman,  at 
home  and  abroad,  can  help  to  solve. 


70 


CHAPTER  IV 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
PROGRESS 

A large  reconstructive  influence  has  been  ex- 
erted by  the  inrush  of  the  intellectual  ideas  of  the 
West.  The  missionaries  in  China,  like  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers  in  New  England,  planted  the  church 
and  the  schoolhouse  side  by  side.  The  educational 
work  of  missions  in  China  has  been  developed 
until  it  now  includes  2,029  elementary  schools  and 
1 , 1 1 6 academies,  colleges  and  normal,  medical, 
theological  and  industrial  schools.  American  mis- 
sionary societies  have  been  foremost  in  this  edu- 
cational work.  Of  the  sixteen  institutions  of  col- 
lege grade  in  China,  thirteen  are  American.  Dr. 
Arthur  H.  Smith  says  that  seventy-five  per  cent 
of  the  membership  of  the  Educational  Association 
of  China,  a body  of  practical  teachers  meeting  tri- 
ennially  for  the  discussion  of  educational  problems 
and  for  unity  of  action,  is  American ; that  the  only 
institutions  of  college  grade  for  Chinese  women 
are  American ; and  that  the  total  number  of  Amer- 
ican schools  and  colleges  of  all  sorts  is  probably 
considerably  in  excess  of  one  thousand.  There  are, 

7i 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


however,  many  institutions  maintained  by  British 
and  Continental  Societies,  and  more  are  projected, 
including  the  Oxford-Cambridge  University  at 
Hankow. 

Mission  schools  have  long  exerted  wide  influ- 
ence. They  taught  Chinese  boys  and  girls,  who 
had  always  imagined  that  China  was  “ The  Mid- 
dle Kingdom  ” surrounded  by  a fringe  of  semi- 
barbarians, that  there  were  great  and  powerful 
nations  which  were  considerably  farther  advanced 
in  education  and  civilization  than  the  Chinese.  A 
people  who  had  known  nothing  outside  of  their 
own  history  now  heard  of  the  history,  literature, 
art,  science  and  philosophy  of  other  lands.  A vast 
realm  of  thought  and  experience  was  thus  opened 
to  the  astonished  gaze  of  the  Chinese.  Naturally 
studious,  they  were  quick  to  discern  the  significance 
of  the  new  learning.  All  over  China  the  tidings 
flew.  The  books  of  Europe  and  America  began  to 
be  read,  and  presses  had  to  be  run  at  high  pres- 
sure to  supply  the  demand.  The  Chinese  method 
of  printing  by  blocks  of  wooden  type  gave  way  to 
modem  metal  type.  Missionary  printing  estab- 
lishments enlarged  their  facilities  many  fold  and 
native  presses  sprang  up  in  dozens  of  cities.  Some 
of  them  now  do  a very  large  business,  notably  The 
Commercial  Press  in  Shanghai,  a great  concern 
controlled  and  operated  by  Christian  Chinese. 

The  Chinese  had  long  made  extensive  use  of 
72 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


placards  and  posters  as  a means  of  communicating 
news;  but  prior  to  the  Boxer  Uprising,  there  was 
no  vernacular  press,  except  a few  small  publica- 
tions in  Peking  and  in  one  or  two  port  cities.  Over 
200  Chinese  newspapers  are  now  published,  one 
of  them  a woman’s  daily  paper  in  Peking,  and 
their  circulation  is  large  and  rapidly  growing.  The 
official  class,  which  at  first  paid  little  attention  to 
them,  awakened  to  the  influence  which  they  were 
exerting,  and  in  1909  a number  of  the  more  influ- 
ential journals  were  bought  up  or  subsidized  by 
men  connected  with  the  Provincial  governments. 
This  did  not  promise  to  be  a wholesome  change, 
for  these  journals  were  actively  promulgating  re- 
form. But  the  new  intellectual  life  of  the  nation 
was  beating  too  strongly  to  be  repressed  and  the 
demand  for  reform  soon  became  more  insistent 
than  ever. 

Post-offices  were  also  demanded  by  the  new  con- 
ditions. One  reason  why  the  Chinese  have  been  so 
ignorant  of  the  rest  of  the  world  and  even  of  dis- 
tant parts  of  their  own  country  was  the  lack  of 
facilities  for  transmitting  mail.  Missionaries  in 
the  interior  had  to  get  their  mail  by  private  mes- 
sengers or  a chance  traveler.  But  now  China  has 
a modern  post-office  system  which  is  being  rapidly 
extended  throughout  the  Empire.  Beginning  only 
a dozen  years  ago  under  the  superintendence  of  Sir 
Robert  Hart,  by  1902  there  were  446  post-offices. 

73 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


In  1907  the  number  had  risen  to  2,803,  in  1908  to 
3,493,  in  1909  to  3,973,  and  it  has  now  passed  the 
four  thousand  mark,  one  of  the  latest  offices  being 
in  Lhasa,  the  once  inaccessible  capital  of  Tibet. 
The  number  of  pieces  handled  has  increased  as  fol- 
lows: 1904,  66,000,000;  1905,76,500,000;  1906, 
113,000,000;  1907,  168,000,000;  1908,  252,- 
000,000;  1909,  292,000,000.  The  postal  routes 
now  in  operation  cover  no  less  than  88,000  miles. 
The  Christian  Literature  Society  of  Shanghai  used 
these  mail  facilities  to  send  out  277,000  posters  ex- 
plaining Halley’s  Comet  to  people  who,  but  a few 
years  before,  would  have  been  frightened  out  of 
their  wits  by  it  as  a supernatural  manifestation. 

A dozen  years  ago,  the  telegraph  service  con- 
nected only  a few  cities  near  the  coast,  and  the  tele- 
phone was  unknown.  Now  40,000  miles  of  wire 
reach  all  the  principal  centres  of  population,  in- 
cluding the  18 1 prefectural  cities,  while  hundreds 
of  yamens  are  equipped  with  telephones. 

Mission  schools  were,  for  a long  time,  the  only 
institutions  in  the  entire  country  which  gave  their 
pupils  a modem  education.  But  within  recent 
years,  the  Chinese  began  to  feel  that  the  time  had 
come  to  do  away  with  their  antiquated  schools 
whose  instruction  was  confined  to  memorizing 
Confucian  classics  and  writing  rhetorical  essays  on 
selected  sentences.  One  of  the  most  characteristic 
features  of  old  China  was  the  examination  essay 

74 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


for  literary  degrees  on  some  Chinese  subject  relat- 
ing to  a remote  past.  But  Imperial  Edicts  of  1901 
and  1905  abolished  this  time-honored  custom 
and  directed  that  candidates  for  degrees  and  of- 
fices should  submit  short  essays  on  western  science, 
governments,  laws  and  kindred  subjects.  Immedi- 
ately there  was  a rush  of  eager  students  to  the  mis- 
sion schools  and  the  missionary  teachers  were 
almost  swamped  with  applicants.  Chinese  bought 
western  books  as  never  before ; examinations 
could  not  be  passed  without  them.  Dr.  Timothy 
Richard  of  Shanghai  reported  that  a quarter  of  a 
million  dollars’  worth  of  text-books  were  sold  in 
that  city  in  1902,  a single  order  received  by  the 
Presbyterian  Press  involving  a bill  of  $328  for 
postage  alone,  as  the  buyer  insisted  that  the  books 
should  be  sent  by  mail.  Never  before  had  a stroke 
of  the  Vermilion  Pencil  wrought  such  far-reaching 
results. 

A joint  report  to  the  Throne  by  Viceroy  Chang 
Chih-tung  and  Chang  Pei-hsi,  Chancellor  of  Pe- 
king University,  led  to  an  Imperial  decree  which 
ordered  a new  system  of  government  education. 
The  plan  calls  for  a university  at  the  capital  of 
each  Province,  with  auxiliary  prefectural  and  dis- 
trict colleges  and  schools,  the  whole  system  to 
culminate  in  an  Imperial  University  in  Peking.  In 
all  these  institutions,  western  arts  and  sciences  are 
to  be  taught  side  by  side  with  the  old  Confucian 

75 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


classics.  An  Imperial  Edict  of  1908  reads:  “All 
boys  over  eight  years  of  age  must  go  to  school,  or 
their  parents  or  relatives  will  be  punished.  If  they 
have  no  relatives,  the  officials  will  be  held  respon- 
sible for  their  education.”  “ The  Viceroys  and 
Governors  of  Provinces  are  commanded  to  order 
their  subordinates  to  hasten  the  establishment  of 
these  schools.  Let  this  decree  be  published 
through  the  Empire.”  An  Imperial  Board  of 
Education  was  established  in  1905.  Engineering 
courses  are  given  at  the  following  institutions : Im- 
perial Polytechnic  Institute  at  Shanghai;  Imperial 
University  of  Shan-si  at  Tai-yuan-fu ; Engineering 
and  Mining  College  at  Tang-shan;  and  Imperial 
Pei-yang  University  at  Tien-tsin.  There  are  50 
educational  institutions  in  Mukden  alone,  in  which 
the  total  number  of  students  is  estimated  to  be 
7,500.  One  law  school  has  700  students,  and  one 
of  the  three  normal  schools  is  preparing  to  accom- 
modate 1,000. 

The  number  of  government  schools  of  all  grades 
now  under  the  Imperial  Bureau  of  Education  is 
42,000  with  64,000  instructors  and  875,000  pu- 
pils. The  intention  is  to  provide  one  elementary 
school  for  every  400  families  in  the  Empire  within 
five  years  and  school  accommodations  for  45,000,- 
000  children  within  ten  years.  The  old  examina- 
tion halls  are  weed-grown  ruins,  while  the  new 
educational  system  is  represented  by  buildings 

76 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


stately  in  architecture  and  modern  in  appointments. 
The  Government  University  buildings  in  Canton 
stand  on  the  site  of  11,616  cells  of  the  old  exam- 
ination halls.  I visited  the  high  school  of  the  eight 
Manchu  Banners  in  Peking  and  found  American 
text-books  in  the  hands  of  sons  of  Manchu  noble- 
men. I examined  several  of  the  Government  in- 
stitutions and  can  testify  to  the  elaborateness  of 
their  equipment,  although  the  educational  work 
is  usually  of  poor  quality.  They  are  hampered  by 
lack  of  suitable  teachers  and  text-books  and  by 
political  influences  which  give  coveted  positions  to 
mere  office-holders  rather  than  to  competent  edu- 
cators; but  however  imperfect  the  system  may  be 
at  present,  the  significant  thing  is  that  the  begin- 
nings of  a modern  educational  development  have 
been  made. 

The  new  conditions  are  undermining  idolatry. 
In  a village  near  Pang  Chuang,  the  Chinese 
dumped  the  accumulated  idols  from  their  temple 
into  a hole  dug  in  a field  and  delivered  over  the 
temple  for  a new  school  so  that  their  children 
might  learn  to  read  and  write.  An  old  man  near 
Peking,  who  had  laboriously  saved  up  a few  hun- 
dred dollars  to  repair  a ruined  temple,  was  re- 
buked by  the  local  official  for  encouraging  super- 
stition instead  of  putting  his  money  into  schools; 
and  the  Police  Commissioner  of  Tien-tsin  issued  an 
order  prohibiting  offerings  to  the  dead  on  the  an- 

77 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


nual  festival  of  All  Souls  and  advised  the  people 
to  put  into  the  educational  fund  the  money  that 
they  had  planned  to  spend  on  sacrifices. 

Tens  of  thousands  of  Chinese  are  learning  the 
English  language.  Herbert  Spencer,  John  Stuart 
Mill  and  many  other  writers  on  philosophy  and 
political  economy  are  diligently  read.  The  Gov- 
ernment, in  1910,  issued  an  Edict  authorizing  the 
use  of  English  in  scientific  and  technical  instruc- 
tion. Railway  tickets  and  time-tables  are  usually 
printed  in  both  English  and  Chinese,  and  several 
colleges,  like  St.  John’s  in  Shanghai  and  the  Can- 
ton Christian  College  in  Canton,  find  that  the 
readiness  of  their  students  to  acquire  English  is  so 
great  that  it  is  practicable  to  do  class-room  work 
in  English. 

A number  of  ambitious  youths,  who  had  re- 
ceived their  early  training  in  mission  schools  or 
from  contact  with  the  new  intellectual  movement 
which  the  missionaries  had  inaugurated,  went  to 
Europe  or  America  to  complete  their  education  in 
the  best  western  colleges  and  universities.  In  due 
time,  some  of  the  Governors  and  Viceroys  and 
even  the  Imperial  Government  were  led  to  send 
selected  young  men  abroad  for  this  purpose. 
When  they  returned  to  China,  they  were  at  first 
received  with  suspicion  and  dislike,  and  some  wrere 
even  imprisoned  for  alleged  disloyalty.  But  grad- 
ually their  superior  training  began  to  tell  and 

78 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 

they  were  placed  in  positions  of  influence.  I have 
a list  of  Chinese  who  were  educated  in  the 
United  States  who,  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Rev- 
olution, were  occupying  or  had  occupied  official 
posts  as  Cabinet  Ministers,  Tao-tais,  Ministers  to 
Great  Britain,  America,  Germany,  Mexico,  Peru 
and  Spain,  Secretaries  of  Legations  and  Consuls- 
General  in  several  different  countries,  Directors- 
General  of  Customs,  Presidents  and  Vice-Presi- 
dents of  Imperial  Departments  in  Peking,  Chief 
Engineers,  directors  and  builders  of  railways, 
managers  and  assistant  managers  of  Government 
Telegraphs,  Imperial  Delegates  to  International 
Opium  Conferences,  directors  of  docks  and  en- 
gineering works,  high  posts  in  the  army  and  navy, 
and  many  other  positions.  President  Taft  stated 
in  an  address  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  in  1908,  that 
during  his  travels  in  China,  he  “ had  found  Yale 
men  (Chinese)  as  governors,  secretaries  and  ad- 
visers of  those  forces  which  are  struggling  to  make 
more  of  the  Chinese  Empire.” 

The  Japanese  were  eager  to  counsel  the  Chinese 
in  this  formative  period.  For  two  or  three  years 
after  the  Russia-Japan  War,  their  prestige  was 
great,  and  China  appeared  to  be  willing  to  follow 
the  ambitious  islanders.  Japanese  advisers  were 
influential  in  shaping  Chinese  military  and  political 
affairs,  and  thousands  of  Chinese  students  flocked 
to  Japan  for  instruction.  In  1907,  the  number  had 

79 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


risen  to  15,000.  But  ere  long  the  sentiment  of  the 
Chinese  began  to  change.  They  were  offended  by 
the  assumption  of  superiority  which  has  character- 
ized the  Japanese  since  their  victory  over  Russia. 
For  this  reason,  together  with  others,  the  num- 
ber of  Chinese  students  in  Japan  rapidly  dwindled 
to  3,000.  It  should  be  said  that  the  larger  num- 
ber included  many  who  rushed  to  Japan  in  the 
first  enthusiasm  which  followed  the  Russia-Japan 
War,  and  that  the  smaller  number  was  composed 
of  more  earnest  and  intelligent  men.  But  Japan- 
ese agents  who  tried  to  influence  China’s  policy 
found  themselves  rebuffed.  An  educated  Chinese 
gentleman,  with  whom  I discussed  this  subject,  said 
rather  contemptuously:  “Japan  is  too  small  and 
too  poor  to  help  China,  either  in  finance  or  in  war, 
and  her  people  are  so  immoral  that  contact  with 
them  wrould  be  harmful  rather  than  helpful  to  the 
Chinese.  China  wrants  the  best  there  is  in  the 
world,  and  as  all  nations  are  now  open  to  her,  she 
can  get  the  best.  Why  should  we  take  ideas  from 
Japan  when  the  difference  between  China  and 
Japan  and  China  and  Europe  or  America  is  only 
the  difference  between  six  days  and  fourteen  days? 
What  are  eight  days,  especially  when  they  mean 
superior  influences?”  When  a well-meaning  for- 
eigner proposed  a memorial  service  in  Shanghai 
after  the  assassination  of  Prince  Ito,  Chinese  who 
were  consulted  opposed  it  so  strongly  that  the  proj- 

80 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


ect  had  to  be  abandoned.  They  declared  that  they 
saw  no  reason  why  Chinese  should  honor  a Japan- 
ese statesman,  and  particularly  one  who  repre- 
sented the  Asiatic  ambitions  of  Japan. 

After  the  American  Government  returned  to 
China  the  large  part  of  the  Boxer  indemnity  that 
was  not  needed  to  meet  actual  losses,  the  Chinese 
Government  decided,  in  consultation  with  our  De- 
partment of  State,  to  apply  some  of  it  to  send  to 
schools  and  colleges  in  the  United  States  one  hun- 
dred young  men  annually  for  four  years  and  then 
fifty  for  twenty-nine  years,  each  student  to  take  a 
course  of  seven  years.  In  order  that  these  youths 
might  be  carefully  selected  and  given  the  necessary 
preparatory  training,  Ching  Hua  Academy  was 
established  in  Peking  to  which  nominated  youths 
are  sent  from  the  various  Provinces.  There  were 
350  students  in  this  school  when  the  Revolution 
broke  out  and  the  faculty  was  composed  of  wes- 
tern trained  teachers.  There  are  now  about  700 
Chinese  students  in  the  United  States  and  an  in- 
creasing number  of  the  leaders  of  the  new  China 
are  graduates  of  American  institutions. 

Most  of  the  students  of  modern  learning  in 
China  were  in  sympathy  with  the  Revolution.  It 
is  estimated  that  at  least  ninety-five  per  cent  of 
those  who  received  part  of  their  education  in  other 
lands  became,  on  their  return,  leaders  of  revolu- 
tionary thought. 


81 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


The  language  of  China  is  being  adapted  to  the 
changing  conditions.  A young  missionary  writes: 
“ There  are  six  of  us  studying  Chinese  together. 
Our  teachers  tell  us  that  we  must  pay  more  attention 
than  is  usually  given  to  the  new  words  now  coming 
into  use.  I do  not  mean  the  host  of  scientific  terms 
being  turned  into  Chinese;  but  the  miscellaneous 
phrases  coined  chiefly  since  1900  to  meet  the  needs 
of  the  new  style  of  thought.  These  expressions 
have  gained  currency  mainly  through  the  news- 
papers, and  so  we  go  to  the  newspapers  to  find 
them,  rather  than  to  the  sinologues  whose  vocabu- 
laries were  acquired  in  ante-Boxer  days.  There  is 
one  new  word  that  everybody  glibly  recites  to  the 
inquiring  newcomer;  it  is  the  word  for  an  ideal, 
meaning  literally,  the  thing  you  have  your  eye 
on.  A fit  companion  to  this  is  a new  way  of 
speaking  of  a man’s  purpose  in  life,  his  magnetic 
needle  points  in  such  and  such  a direction.  A 
group  of  new  expressions  with  the  following  mean- 
ings: society,  reform,  the  public  good,  constitu- 
tional government,  protection  of  life,  taking  the 
initiative,  removing  obstructions,  to  volunteer  one’s 
services,  indicate  the  direction  in  which  the  winds 
of  thought  are  blowing  in  China.  The  newspapers 
now  have  a word  meaning  ‘ rotten,’  which  they  ap- 
ply freely  to  mandarins,  to  the  army,  to  schools 
and  to  things  in  general.  Freedom  of  religion  is 
another  new  phrase  in  Chinese ; so  is  a term  mean- 

82 


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> 6 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


ing  to  educate,  as  distinguihsed  from  to  instruct. 
The  use  of  the  latter  was  illustrated  by  a distin- 
guished Chinese  (not  a Christian)  when  he  de- 
clared that  a missionary  school  in  Tien-tsin  was 
better  than  the  Confucian  schools,  because  it  edu- 
cates its  pupils,  developing  them  both  in  morals 
and  knowledge ; whereas  the  Chinese  practice  is  to 
hand  out  chunks  of  learning  and  ethical  advice  for 
pupils  to  swallow  or  not  as  they  choose.” 

The  new  life  that  is  stirring  the  people  affects 
women  as  well  as  men.  Many  schools  for  girls 
have  been  established.  The  late  Empress  Dow- 
ager ordered  a large  Lama  convent  to  be  turned 
over  to  a school  for  girls  and  directed  the  Im- 
perial High  Commissioners  who  were  sent  in  1906 
to  study  American  institutions  to  give  special  at- 
tention to  the  institutions  for  the  education  of 
women.  An  order  of  the  Imperial  Board  of  Edu- 
cation decreed  that  only  girls  whose  feet  were  not 
bound  should  be  admitted  to  the  schools  under  gov- 
ernment supervision. 

A writer  in  a Hong-kong  journal  says:  “Not 
the  most  optimistic  revolutionary,  who  from  the 
view-point  of  twenty  years  ago  looked  forward  to 
the  changes  that  then  seemed  impending,  would 
have  dared  to  prophesy  an  overturning  and  re- 
casting so  complete  as  that  which  now  meets  the 
gaze  in  certain  aspects  of  social  and  political  life 
in  China.  Few  things  have  been  more  rapid  or 

83 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


more  startling  than  the  emancipation  of  women, 
and  the  acquiescence  of  officials  and  other  respon- 
sible leaders  among  the  people  in  the  position  of 
women  as  a leading  factor  in  public  life.  The  Ori- 
entalized woman  in  the  chief  centres  of  intellectual 
activity  is  a creature  of  the  past.  She  is  becoming 
every  year  more  Occidental  in  respect  to  the  posi- 
tion claimed  by  her,  and  accorded  to  her,  as  a 
figure  in  the  new  world.  National  spirit  in  its 
most  potent  forms,  working  for  good  or  for  evil, 
is  raised  to  the  highest  plane  of  effectiveness  when 
it  dominates  womanhood.” 

A remarkable  meeting  of  women  was  held  in 
Canton  in  1908.  An  Oriental  correspondent  de- 
scribes the  meeting  thus : “ The  meeting,  convened 
in  connection  with  the  difficulty  between  China  and 
Japan,  was  a unique  one.  The  proceedings  were 
conducted  in  a perfectly  orderly  manner,  and  stir- 
ring addresses  were  made  for  four  hours.  The 
weather  conditions  were  wholly  adverse;  but  not- 
withstanding the  drenching  rain  that  fell  continu- 
ously, fully  ten  thousand  women  came  together  at 
the  place  of  meeting.  For  the  first  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  great  commercial  centre,  the  main 
thoroughfares  were  kept  open  by  properly  ap- 
pointed police,  told  off  for  the  duty  of  regulating 
the  traffic  in  order  to  facilitate  the  progress  of  the 
wives  and  daughters  of  its  citizens  to  a meeting 
in  which  they  were  to  vindicate  their  claim  to  be 

84 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


heard  in  indignant  protest  against  national  injus- 
tice and  wrong.”  One  can  only  imagine  what  the 
editor  would  have  said  if  he  had  known  that  in 
1912  Chinese  suffragettes  would  storm  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  in  Nanking  and  smash  windows  in 
the  most  approved  London  style. 

Christian  education  has  come  into  special  prom- 
inence. Missionary  schools  and  colleges  are  far 
superior  in  grade  of  work  to  the  government  insti- 
tutions, and  our  schools  are  limited  only  by  their 
equipment  and  financial  support.  The  superiority 
of  men  trained  in  the  mission  schools  is  quickly  ap- 
parent. Mr.  Robert  F.  Fitch  says  that  when,  in 
1907,  the  Viceroy  of  Nanking  sought  five  men  to 
become  his  advisers  and  offered  a salary  of  four 
hundred  dollars  a month,  the  men  whom  he  se- 
lected were  all  Christians,  graduates  of  Christian 
colleges  in  China,  three  having  also  studied  in 
America.  Of  the  twelve  men  who  received  the 
highest  degrees  at  the  Imperial  examination  in  Pe- 
king, the  same  year,  one  was  a graduate  of  Cam- 
bridge University  and  the  other  eleven  were  gradu- 
ates of  American  (Christian)  colleges  in  China 
and  in  our  own  country.  The  strongest  man,  a fine 
Christian,  became  the  leading  member  of  the 
Board  of  Education  for  all  China.  Mr.  Chang 
Po  Ling,  Principal  of  the  school  in  Tien-tsin 
founded  by  the  Imperial  Minister  of  Edu- 
cation, Dr.  Yen,  to  be  a model  for  all  China, 

85 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 

is  an  active  Christian  and  a man  of  great 
influence. 

Everywhere  throughout  that  mighty  mass  of 
population,  the  ideas  of  the  West  are  working. 
An  intellectual  awakening  of  stupendous  propor- 
tions is  taking  place.  No  longer  is  the  ambitious 
Asiatic  content  with  the  classics  of  Confucius;  he 
is  studying  the  very  things  that  Americans  are 
studying.  Ambitious  young  men  of  China  will  get 
a modern  education,  and  they  will  get  it  either 
from  a Christian  or  a non-Christian.  Has  this 
fact  any  message  to  the  universities  and  colleges  of 
Europe  and  America  ? 

Unfortunately,  the  stream  of  educational  and 
other  influences  from  the  West  has  been  contam- 
inated by  many  of  the  vices  which  disgrace  our 
civilization.  The  average  youth  of  a generation 
ago  simply  had  the  temptations  of  his  local  com- 
munity; the  average  youth  of  to-day  has  the 
temptations  of  the  world.  The  ethnic  religions  did 
not  have  many  restraints,  and  what  they  had  are 
disappearing.  Everywhere  I found  thoughtful 
men  lamenting  that  the  temptations  of  the  new  era 
are  worse  than  the  temptations  of  the  old. 

It  is  lamentable  that  the  effort  of  Christianity  to 
deal  effectively  with  the  situation  in  China  is  seri- 
ously embarrassed  by  anti-Christian  influences  at 
home.  The  extent  to  which  the  wTorst  elements  of 
Europe  and  America  are  reinforcing  the  powers 

86 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


of  evil  in  Asia  and  Africa  is  one  of  our  gravest 
problems.  The  very  knowledge  of  the  world  that 
has  helped  to  bring  about  such  changes  in  China 
has  taught  the  Chinese  that  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian nations  are  characterized  by  much  that  is 
selfish  and  greedy  and  lustful.  Religion  to  the 
Asiatic  is  a national  rather  than  an  individual  mat- 
ter. He  imagines  that  western  nations  are  Chris- 
tian nations,  and  when  he  sees  them  trying  to 
despoil  his  territory  and  sees  that  their  relations 
with  his  country  are  characterized  by  trickery  and 
deceit,  he  naturally  concludes  that  he  does  not  want 
the  religion  of  such  a country. 

The  conduct  of  many  foreigners  in  the  Far  East 
has  long  been  a cause  of  irritation  to  the  Chinese 
and  one  of  the  serious  obstacles  to  missionary  ef- 
fort. It  is  small  wonder  that  the  average  Oriental 
distrusts  and  fears  white  men  when  he  observes 
what  many  of  them  are  and  what  they  do.  The 
history  of  the  commercial  and  political  relation- 
ships of  western  nations  with  eastern  nations  is 
not  comfortable  reading  for  those  who  seek  to  in- 
culcate sentiments  of  mutual  respect  and  good  will. 
“ There  are  many  humorous  things  in  the  world,” 
observes  Mark  Twain;  “among  them  the  white 
man’s  notion  that  he  is  less  savage  than  the  other 
savages.”  I found  the  following  “ Special  No- 
tice ” conspicuously  posted  in  a dozen  places  about 
the  Ming  Tombs  near  Nanking: 

87 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


Owing  to  past  acts  of  vandalism  and  defacement  of 
the  Imperial  tablets,  monuments  and  ancient  relics  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Ming  Tombs,  palings  have  been  erected  by 
order  of  His  Excellency,  Viceroy  Tuan  Fang,  for  the 
preservation  of  same.  Visitors  are  therefore  hereby  re- 
quested to  abstain  from  entering  within  the  said  palings 
or  doing  anything  that  may  be  detrimental  to  the  said 
Imperial  tablets,  monuments  and  relics  in  this  vicinity. 

Wan,  Tao-tai. 

Liang-kiang,  Bureau  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

Yang,  Prefect  of  Kiang-ning. 


This  was  printed  in  English,  French,  Russian, 
German,  Italian  and  Japanese,  but  not  in  Chinese 
— that  was  not  necessary.  A glance  at  the  arches, 
monuments  and  buildings  afforded  humiliating  evi- 
dence not  only  of  the  necessity  for  the  notice  but 
of  the  nationality  of  those  for  whom  it  was  in- 
tended. Objects  sacred  to  the  Chinese  were  grossly 
disfigured  by  names  and  other  marks  scrawled  and 
cut  upon  the  stone  and  woodwork,  most  of  them 
in  English.  Who  can  blame  the  Chinese  for  hat- 
ing and  despising  foreigners  wTho  do  such  things  ? 

The  foreign  communities  in  the  ports  of  Asia 
include  a larger  number  of  men  and  women  of 
high  character  than  formerly.  There  are  some 
splendid  people  in  those  cities;  but  the  proportion 
of  the  dissolute  is  still  painfully  great.  When 
Judge  Wilfley  went  to  Shanghai  to  open  the  first 
United  States  Court  in  China,  the  term  “ Ameri- 

88 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


can  girl  ” was  popularly  understood  to  mean  an 
exceptionally  attractive  woman  of  ill-repute.  He 
drove  out  the  prostitutes,  but  they  returned  after 
he  left  and  to-day,  as  in  former  years,  every  port 
in  the  Far  East  swarms  with  bad  characters  of  both 
sexes  from  Europe  and  America.  The  worst  men 
in  the  Far  East  to-day  are  not  Chinese  or  Japanese 
or  Koreans;  they  are  degenerate  white  men.  Read 
what  Mr.  Taft  said  in  his  official  reports  as  Gov- 
ernor-General of  the  Philippine  Islands  regarding 
the  personal  character — or  rather  lack  of  personal 
character — of  many  Americans  in  that  region. 
Read  the  article  1 of  Mr.  Robert  Murray  about 
the  moral  cesspool  in  the  American  section  of 
Shanghai.  I agree  with  the  Hon.  John  Fowler, 
American  Consul  at  Chefoo,  in  the  statement  that 
a Chinese  who  sincerely  worships  a stone  image 
is  a better  man  to  deal  with  and  a more  promising 
man  to  convert  than  a white  man  who  does  not  be- 
lieve in  anything.  The  former  at  least  reveres 
the  best  that  he  knows.  The  latter,  knowing  the 
better,  ignores  it.  The  most  hopeless  individual 
anywhere  is  the  one  who,  understanding  truth,  re- 
fuses to  conform  his  life  to  it.  Every  Chinese  is  a 
Confucian  and  a Buddhist,  and  he  imagines  that 
every  white  man  is  a Christian.  Christianity  there- 
fore has  to  bear  the  reproach  of  men  from  the 
West  who  deliberately  reject  its  teachings.  The 

lThe  Cosmopolitan , October,  1908. 

89. 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


evil  acts  of  one  foreigner  are  charged  against  the 
white  race,  as  in  pioneer  days  in  the  American  col- 
onies, a settler  whose  wife  had  been  killed  by  an 
Indian  took  his  revenge  by  indiscriminately  shoot- 
ing all  the  Indians  he  could  find.  Any  hatred  that 
the  Chinese  may  have  against  Christianity  is  due, 
not  so  much  to  its  religious  teachings  as  to  its  iden- 
tification with  the  foreign  nations  whose  religion 
Christianity  is  supposed  to  be. 

Most  of  the  criticisms  of  missionaries  which  find 
their  way  into  newspapers  emanate  from  these  dis- 
solute foreigners.  The  missionaries  do  not  gam- 
ble, drink  whisky  or  keep  mistresses,  and  so  they 
are  sneered  at  as  “ canting  hypocrites  ” and  are  be- 
lieved to  be  doing  “ no  good  ” by  the  critic  who 
has  never  visited  a Chinese  Christian  church, 
school  or  hospital  in  his  life.  The  editor  of  The 
Japan  Mail  justly  remarks:  “We  do  not  sug- 
gest that  these  newspapers  which  denounce  the 
missionaries  so  vehemently  desire  to  be  unjust  or 
have  any  suspicion  that  they  are  unjust.  But  we 
do  assert  that  they  have  manifestly  taken  on  the 
color  of  that  section  of  every  far  eastern  commu- 
nity whose  units,  for  some  strange  reason,  enter- 
tain an  inveterate  prejudice  against  the  missionary 
and  his  works.  Were  it  possible  for  these  persons 
to  give  an  intelligent  explanation  of  the  dislike 
with  which  the  missionary  inspires  them,  their 
opinions  would  command  more  respect.  But  they 

90 


Track  Team  of  a Preparatory  School 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


have  never  succeeded  in  making  any  logical  pre- 
sentment of  their  case,  and  no  choice  offers  except 
to  regard  them  as  the  victims  of  an  antipathy 
which  has  no  basis  in  reason  or  reflection.  That  a 
man  should  be  anti-Christian  and  should  devote 
his  pen  to  propagating  his  views  is  strictly  within 
his  right,  and  we  must  not  be  understood  as  sug- 
gesting that  the  smallest  reproach  attaches  to  such 
a person.  But  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  within  the 
right  of  the  missionary  to  protest  against  being 
arraigned  before  judges  habitually  hostile  to  him, 
and  it  is  within  the  right  of  the  public  to  scrutinize 
the  pronouncements  of  such  judges  with  much  sus- 
picion.’’ 

May  we  not  justly  insist  that  nations  as  well  as 
individuals  shall  abandon  the  methods  of  brutal- 
ity and  rapine?  If  we  expect  to  influence  the  Chi- 
nese for  good,  we  must  not  preach  one  thing  as  a 
Church  and  the  opposite  thing  as  a nation.  It  is 
not  true,  as  some  have  alleged,  that  the  Chinese 
cannot  understand  justice  and  magnanimity.  Even 
if  it  were  true,  it  would  not  follow  that  we  should 
be  unjust  and  pitiless.  Let  us  instruct  them  in 
the  higher  things.  But  as  a matter  of  fact,  the 
Chinese  are  as  amenable  to  reason  as  any  people 
in  the  world.  Their  temperament,  inertia  and 
long  isolation  from  the  remainder  of  mankind  have 
made  them  slow  to  grasp  a new  idea.  But  they 
will  get  it  if  they  are  given  reasonable  time,  and 

9i 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


when  they  do  once  get  it,  they  will  hold  it.  Fair- 
ness and  humanity  in  all  dealings  with  the  Chinese, 
while  not  perhaps  wholly  preventing  outbreaks  of 
hostility7,  will  at  least  give  less  occasion  for  them. 

It  is  painfully  clear  that  unchristian  white  men 
in  China  and  the  unchristian  policies  of  western 
nations  help  to  undermine  old  foundations  without 
building  new  ones,  and  thus  make  conditions  worse 
than  they  were  before.  The  Christian  Register 
well  says,  that  “ the  more  we  open  the  world  to 
what  we  call  civilization,  and  the  more  education 
we  give  it  of  the  kind  we  call  scientific,  the  greater 
are  the  dangers  to  modern  society,  unless  in  some 
way  we  contrive  to  make  all  the  world  better. 
Brigands  armed  with  repeating  rifles  and  supplied 
with  smokeless  gunpowder  are  brigands  still,  but 
ten  times  more  dangerous  than  they  were  before. 
The  vast  hordes  of  human  beings  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  so  long  as  they  are  left  in  seclusion,  arc 
dangerous  to  their  immediate  neighbors;  but,  when 
they  have  railroads,  steamboats,  tariffs,  and 
machine-guns,  while  they  retain  their  savage  ideals 
and  barbarous  customs,  they  become  dangerous  to 
all  the  rest  of  the  world.” 

An  irreligious  civilization  is  always  and  every- 
where a curse  rather  than  a blessing.  From  the 
Garden  of  Eden  down,  the  fall  of  man  has  resulted 
in  what  George  Adam  Smith  calls  “ the  increase  of 
knowledge  and  of  power  unaccompanied  by  rever- 

92 


INTELLECTUAL  AWAKENING  AND  EDUCATION 


ence.  ...  No  evolution  is  stable  which  neglects 
the  moral  factor  or  seeks  to  shake  itself  free  from 
the  eternal  duties  of  obedience  and  of  faith.  . . . 
The  Song  of  Lamech  echoes  from  a remote  an- 
tiquity the  savage  truth  that  ‘ the  first  results  of 
civilization  are  to  equip  hatred  and  render  revenge 
more  deadly  ...  a savage  exultation  in  the  fresh 
power  of  vengeance  which  all  the  novel  instru- 
ments have  placed  in  their  inventor’s  hands.’  ” 
Unless  our  best  Christian  men  and  women  go 
to  China  to  teach  and  exemplify  a nobler  faith, 
the  last  state  of  the  Chinese  will  be  worse  than 
the  first. 


93 


CHAPTER  V 


QUICKENING  AND  CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

Fortunately,  a nobler  and  more  constructive  in- 
fluence has  been  operating  in  China,  the  most  en- 
lightening and  quickening  of  all  influences — the 
Christian  teachings  which  were  brought  by  mis- 
sionaries from  the  West.  The  story  of  Christian 
Missions  to  the  Chinese  is  one  of  extraordinary  in- 
terest, a story  of  toil  and  struggle,  of  privation  and 
danger,  of  large  success  and  consequent  responsi- 
bility. As  far  back  as  the  first  decade  of  the  sixth 
century,  Nestorian  monks  appear  to  have  begun 
a mission  in  China.  Romance  and  tragedy  are 
suggested  by  the  few  known  facts  regarding  that 
early  movement.  Partly  impelled  by  conviction, 
partly  driven  by  persecution,  those  faithful  souls 
traveled  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Roman  Empire 
and  rested  not  till  they  had  made  the  formidable 
journey  across  deserts  and  mountains  to  “ the  land 
of  Sinim.”  A quaint  monument  at  Hsian-fu,  the 
capital  of  Shen-si,  is  the  only  remaining  trace  of 
what  must  have  been  an  interesting  and  perhaps 
a thrilling  missionary  enterprise. 

94 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


The  Roman  Catholic  effort  began  in  1293,  when 
John  de  Corvino  succeeded  in  reaching  Peking. 
The  failure  of  his  effort  was  followed  by  two  and 
a half  centuries  of  silence,  and  then,  in  1552,  the 
heroic  Francis  Xavier  set  his  face  towards  China, 
only  to  be  prostrated  by  fever  on  the  Island  of 
Sancian.  As  he  despairingly  realized  that  he 
would  never  be  able  to  set  his  foot  on  that  still  im- 
penetrable land,  he  moaned:  “Oh,  Rock,  Rock, 
when  wilt  thou  open?”  and  passed  away.  In 
1581,  another  Jesuit,  Matteo  Ricci,  entered  Can- 
ton in  the  guise  of  a Buddhist  priest.  He  managed 
to  remain,  and  twenty  years  later  he  went  to  Pe- 
king. In  him  Roman  Catholicism  gained  a per- 
manent foothold  in  China,  and  although  it  was 
often  fiercely  persecuted  and  at  times  reduced  to 
feebleness,  it  never  became  wholly  extinct.  Grad- 
ually it  extended  its  influence  until,  in  1672,  the 
priests  reported  300,000  baptized  Chinese,  in- 
cluding children.  In  the  nineteenth  century,  the 
growth  of  the  Roman  Church  was  rapid.  It  is 
now  strongly  intrenched  in  all  the  Provinces,  and 
in  most  of  the  leading  cities  its  power  is  great. 
There  are  to-day  1,201  foreign  priests,  550  Chi- 
nese priests,  291  lay  brothers,  3,846  sisters,  6,025 
churches  and  chapels,  986,168  members,  426,480 
catechumens,  5,621  schools  and  514  charitable  in- 
stitutions.1 


“ World  Atlas  of  Christian  Missions.” 

95 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


It  is  not  to  the  credit  of  Protestantism  that  it 
was  centuries  behind  the  Roman  Church  in  the  at- 
tempt to  Christianize  China.  It  was  not  till  1807 
that  the  first  Protestant  missionary  arrived.  On 
January  31st  of  that  year,  Robert  Morrison, 
then  a youth  of  twenty-five,  sailed  alone  from 
London  under  appointment  by  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society.  The  East  India  Company 
would  not  allow  a missionary  on  any  of  its  ships, 
and  Morrison  came  to  New  York  to  see  if  he  could 
secure  passage  on  an  American  vessel.  Here  he 
met  a Presbyterian  elder  with  the  formidable  name 
of  David  Washington  Cincinnatus  Olyphant.  But 
David  Washington  Cincinnatus  Olyphant  owned 
a line  of  ships,  and  when  he  learned  of  young  Mor- 
rison’s purpose  he  gave  him  free  passage  to  China. 
If,  therefore,  England  deserves  the  credit  for  fur- 
nishing the  first  Protestant  missionary  for  China, 
America  deserves  the  credit  of  getting  him  there. 
Everyone  has  heard  of  the  remark  in  the  ship- 
owner’s office : “ And  so,  Mr.  Morrison,  you  really 
expect  that  you  will  make  an  impression  on  the 
idolatry  of  the  great  Chinese  Empire?  ” If  Mr. 
Olyphant  was  the  questioner,  the  words  could  not 
have  been  spoken  in  derision,  as  commonly  sup- 
posed. At  any  rate,  Morrison’s  answer  has  be- 
come historic:  “ No  sir,  I expect  God  will.” 

And  so  the  young  man  sailed  on  the  good 
ship  Trident  the  middle  of  May.  When  on  the 

96 


See  page  97 

Rorert  Morrison  and  His  Chinese  Teachers 

Translating  the  Bible  into  Chinese 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

eighth  day  of  September,  that  solitary,  friendless 
man  landed  upon  the  soil  of  China,  a new  era 
dawned,  for  the  mightiest  reconstructive  and  up- 
lifting force  in  the  world — the  preaching  of  the 
open  Bible — began  to  operate  in  that  ancient 
Empire. 

He  met  suspicion  and  opposition.  His  own 
countrymen  were  hostile  to  his  purpose  and  his 
Chinese  language  teachers  were  impatient  and  in- 
solent. He  was  obliged  to  present  Christianity 
behind  locked  doors  to  the  few  Chinese  whom  he 
dared  approach.  In  these  circumstances,  he  natu- 
rally gave  his  energies  largely  to  language  study 
and  translation,  and  in  1810  he  had  the  joy  of 
issuing  a thousand  copies  of  a Chinese  version  of 
the  Book  of  Acts. 

Seven  weary,  discouraging  years  passed  before 
Morrison  baptized  his  first  convert,  July  1 6,  1814, 
and  even  then  he  had  to  administer  the  sacrament 
at  a lonely  spot  where  unfriendly  eyes  could  not 
see  him.  There  is  something  inspiring  in  the 
thought  of  that  lonely  young  man,  enduring  and 
toiling  with  fortitude  undaunted,  with  resolution 
superb,  until  he  had  attained  splendid  success. 
Progress  was  slow.  At  his  death  in  1834,  there 
were  only  three  Protestant  Chinese  Christians  in 
the  whole  Empire.  Successors  carried  on  the  ef- 
fort, but  the  door  was  not  yet  open,  and  the  work 
was  done  against  many  obstacles  and  chiefly  in 

97 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


secret  till  the  treaty  of  Nanking,  in  1842,  opened 
the  five  ports  of  Amoy,  Canton,  Foo-chow,  Ning- 
po  and  Shanghai.  Missionaries  who  had  been 
waiting  in  the  neighboring  lands  promptly  en- 
tered these  cities.  Eagerly  they  looked  to  the 
great  population  in  the  interior,  but  they  were 
practically  confined  to  the  ports  named  till  1858, 
when  the  treaty  of  Tien-tsin  opened  other  cities 
and  officially  conceded  the  rights  of  missionary 
residence  and  labor. 

The  work  now  spread  more  rapidly,  not  only 
because  it  wras  conducted  in  more  centres  and  by  a 
larger  force  of  missionaries,  but  because  it  was 
carried  into  the  interior  regions  by  Chinese  who 
had  heard  the  Gospel  in  the  ports.  The  following 
table  is  eloquent : 


1807 O communicants 

1814 I 

1834 3 

1842 6 

1853 350 

1857 1,000 

1865 2,000 

1876 13,515 

1886 28,000  “ 

1889 37,287 

1893 55,093 

1897 80,682 

1903 114,687 

1910 278,628 


98 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


The  present  scale  of  Protestant  missionary  work 
is  indicated  by  the  following  statistics1:  4,299  for- 
eign missionaries,  11,661  Chinese  ministers,  teach- 
ers and  evangelists,  3,485  stations  and  out- 
stations,  2,029  primary  schools,  1 , 1 1 6 academies, 
colleges,  industrial,  medical,  nurses’  and  normal 
schools,  170  hospitals,  14  orphanages,  16  leper 
asylums,  3 homes  for  untainted  children  of  lepers, 
1 1 institutions  for  the  blind  and  for  deaf  mutes,  5 
rescue  homes  for  fallen  women,  100  opium  ref- 
uges, 2 industrial  homes,  1 asylum  for  the  in- 
sane, 2,341  churches  with  278,628  members,  a 
Christian  community  of  750,000,  and  property 
valued  at  millions  of  dollars.  The  work  has  been 
marvelously  prospered,  the  net  gain  since  the 
Boxer  Uprising  of  1900  being  nearly  two  hundred 
per  cent.  The  Bible  has  been  translated  and,  with 
the  generous  aid  of  the  Bible  Societies,  46,400,000 
copies  have  been  printed  and  distributed;  while 
myriads  of  scripture  portions  and  Christian  tracts 
and  books  are  pouring  from  mission  presses. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  silent 
and  yet  mighty  energy  represented  by  such  work, 
steadily  continued  through  a long  series  of  years 
and  representing  the  life  labors  of  thousands  of 
devoted  men  and  women  and  an  annual  expen- 
diture of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  True, 
the  number  of  Christians  is  small  in  comparison 
1 “ World  Atlas  of  Christian  Missions.” 

99 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


with  the  population  of  the  country,  but  the  Gospel 
has  been  aptly  compared  to  a seed.  Lodged  in 
the  crevice  of  a rock,  a seed  will  thrust  its  thread- 
like roots  into  tiny  fissures  and  in  time  they  will 
rend  the  rock  asunder  and  firmly  hold  a stately 
tree.  The  seed  of  the  Gospel  has  been  planted 
in  the  Chinese  nation.  It  is  a seed  of  indestruc- 
tible vitality  and  irresistible  transforming  power. 
It  has  taken  root,  and  the  extraordinary  transfor- 
mations that  are  taking  place  in  China  are,  in  part 
at  least,  the  results  of  its  tremendous  expansive 
force. 

The  National  Review,  a secular  journal  in 
Shanghai,  said  editorially,  November  12,  1910,  at 
the  time  of  the  demand  of  the  Chinese  people  for 
a constitution  and  parliament:  “ It  would  be  very 
difficult  indeed  to  say  where  and  when  the  move- 
ment for  constitutional  reform  was  born,  but  we 
do  not  think  we  should  be  very  far  wrong  if  we 
dated  it  in  1807  when  Robert  Morrison  first  set 
foot  in  China.  From  that  event  dates  the  open- 
ing, the  very  slow  opening,  of  China’s  eyes  to  her 
own  defects  and  weaknesses,  and  it  has  been  from 
the  successors  of  Morrison,  in  their  thousands,  that 
the  fuller  enlightenment  of  China  has  come.  It 
has  been  the  influence  of  these  men,  especially 
through  the  literature  that  they  have  produced, 
that  has  made  possible  the  events  of  the  past  few 
days.” 


100 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


Mr.  F.  A.  M’Kenzie,  the  famous  newspaper 
correspondent,  now  editor  of  the  London  Times } 
wrote  after  his  long  journey  through  China: 
“ The  missionaries  are  the  men  who  began  the 
work  of  awakening  China.  . . . Their  work  is 
not  to  be  measured  by  their  enrolled  converts. 
They  have  been  the  pioneers  battering  down  preju- 
dices and  misunderstandings.  They  have  shown 
the  people  what  western  civilization  means.  They 
brought  modern  medical  knowledge  to  China  and 
China  is  now  adopting  it.  They  brought  western 
learning.  They  have  been  not  only  the  teachers 
of  religion  but  the  advance  agents  of  civilization. 
To  me  it  seems  that  in  the  missionary  movement 
in  China  to-day  we  have,  despite  mistakes,  misun- 
derstandings, and  a proportion  of  unsuitable  men, 
one  of  the  most  splendid  exhibitions  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  altruism  the  world  has  ever  seen.” 

Is  Christianity  then  responsible  for  the  Revolu- 
tion? If  by  responsibility  is  meant  either  inciting 
men  to  revolt  or  having  anything  to  do  with  in- 
surrections, the  answer  is  an  unequivocal  No.  It 
is  foolish  to  say  that  the  missionary  is  responsible 
for  the  prompt  appearance  of  “ the  consul  and  the 
gunboat.”  The  true  missionary  goes  forth  with- 
out either  consul  or  gunboat.  He  devotes  his  life 
to  unselfish  altruistic  labor.  He  relies  not  upon 
man,  but  upon  God.  But  as  soon  as  his  work  be- 
gins to  tell,  the  trader  appears  to  buy  and  sell  in 

IOI 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


the  new  market.  The  statesman  casts  covetous 
eyes  on  the  opened  territory.  Then  the  consul  is 
sent,  not  because  the  missionary  asks  for  him,  but 
because  his  Government  chooses  to  send  him. 
Sooner  or  later  some  local  trouble  occurs,  usually 
precipitated  by  the  business  agent  or  the  political 
envoy,  and  the  Government  takes  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  to  further  its  territorial  or  commer- 
cial ambitions. 

As  for  changes  within  the  non-Christian  nation, 
violence  is  not  a part  of  the  program  of  Jesus. 
His  law  is  love  and  its  out-working  in  human  soci- 
ety is  peaceful.  But  Christianity  inculcates  right- 
eousness, justice,  brotherhood  and  liberty.  When 
unrighteousness,  injustice  and  despotism  are  in- 
trenched and  defiantly  refuse  to  yield,  trouble 
becomes  inevitable.  The  breaking  out  of  such 
trouble  does  not  mean  that  righteousness  should 
not  have  been  preached ; it  does  not  mean  that  men 
should  have  been  left  in  oppression  and  ignorance 
and  superstition.  It  means  that  life  everywhere 
is  the  foe  of  death,  that  righteousness  everywhere 
is  the  foe  of  wrong,  light  the  foe  of  darkness. 

The  scope  of  this  book  does  not  permit  an  ex- 
tended account  of  the  missionary  movement  in 
China.  It  has  been  given  in  many  volumes  that 
are  easily  accessible.  Nearly  all  the  Christian 
Churches,  European  and  American,  are  repre- 
sented and  their  missionaries  are  teaching  the 

102 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


young,  healing  the  sick,  translating  the  Word  of 
God,  creating  a wholesome  literature,  and  preach- 
ing everywhere  and  with  a fidelity  beyond  all 
praise  the  truths  of  the  Christian  religion.  Self- 
sacrificing  devotion  and  patient  persistence  in  well- 
doing are  written  on  every  page  of  the  history  of 
missions  in  China,  while  emergencies  have  devel- 
oped deeds  of  the  noblest  heroism. 

I visited  China  in  1901  and  again  in  1909. 
The  contrast  was  remarkable.  In  1901,  there 
were  less  than  100,000  Protestant  Christians  in 
China.  Several  station  plants  were  in  ruins,  while 
the  buildings  in  a number  of  others  had  been 
looted.  The  fires  of  the  Boxer  Uprising  were  still 
smoldering,  though  the  period  of  actual  violence 
had  passed.  The  women  of  the  northern  and  cen- 
tral Missions  were  huddled  in  the  treaty  ports. 
Some  of  the  men  had  returned  to  the  interior  sta- 
tions, but  they  were  living  in  temporary  quarters 
and  in  much  discomfort.  Everyone  was  appalled 
by  the  apparent  ruin  of  the  work  and  the  massacre 
of  beloved  associates.  Many  of  the  Chinese  Chris- 
tians had  been  murdered.  Some  of  the  survivors 
were  scattered  no  one  knew  where,  and  the  few 
that  could  be  found  were  depressed  and  poverty- 
stricken.  It  was  pitiful  to  look  into  their  faces  and 
heartrending  to  hear  the  stories  of  what  they  had 
suffered.  The  allied  armies  of  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica had  crushed  the  Boxer  Uprising,  but  the  people 

103 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


were  sullen  and  ugly.  At  home,  too,  there  was  a 
renewed  outbreak  of  criticism  and  of  hostility  to 
all  missionary  effort.  Many  believed  that  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise  in  China  had  received  a blow 
from  which  it  would  never  recover.  No  Chinese, 
it  was  said,  would  ever  again  confess  Christ. 

How  different  the  situation  in  1909!  The  de- 
stroyed stations  had  been  rebuilt  on  a larger  scale 
than  before,  and  they  are  now  among  the  best 
equipped  plants.  Every  station  that  had  to  be 
abandoned  had  been  reoccupied,  property  that  was 
not  destroyed  had  been  put  in  order,  new  buildings 
had  been  added,  and  the  missionary  force  had 
been  increased.  Missionaries  traveled  freely 
through  every  part  of  the  country,  from  which  they 
had  been  driven  by  the  Boxers.  More  Chinese  were 
baptized  during  these  eight  years  than  in  half  a 
century  preceding  the  Boxer  Uprising.  The  Rev. 
J.  Campbell  Gibson,  D.D.,  noted  a wider  contrast 
at  the  Centenary  Conference  of  1907 : u The  great 
achievement  of  the  first  century  of  Protestant  Mis- 
sions in  China  has  been  the  planting  of  the  Chinese 
Church.  A vast  amount  of  contributory  work 
has  been  done — evangelistic,  pastoral,  educational, 
medical,  literary,  social — and  a large  experience 
has  been  gained  which  should  enable  us  to  direct 
all  these  with  growing  precision  and  force  to  the 
attainment  of  their  ends.  A great  multitude  of 
men,  women  and  children  have  been  led  into  light. 

104 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


This  body  of  Christians,  with  its  equipment  of 
gathered  spiritual  experience,  of  Bible,  hymnology 
and  Christian  literature,  its  places  of  worship,  its 
churches,  schools,  colleges,  hospitals  and  printing 
presses,  its  ordinances  of  worship,  its  discipline  of 
prayer,  and  its  habits  of  family  and  personal  re- 
ligion, with  its  martyrology,  and  its  gathered  mem- 
ories of  gracious  living  and  holy  dying — this  is 
the  wonderful  fruit  which  one  hundred  years  have 
left  in  our  hands.” 

The  last  three  years  have  been  marked  by  some 
remarkable  manifestations  of  spiritual  power. 
The  revival  in  the  Arts  College  of  the  Shantung 
Christian  University,  at  Wei-hsien  in  1909,  was 
one  of  the  most  hopeful  movements  in  the  history 
of  missions.  It  began  quietly  and  continued  with- 
out any  artificial  efforts  to  work  up  excitement. 
Prof.  H.  W.  Luce  writes: 

One  of  the  graduates  of  the  College,  the  Rev.  Ding 
Li  Mei,  began  special  services  March  30th.  The  num- 
ber of  those  deciding  for  the  ministry  increased  to  twenty 
and  then  to  thirty.  There  seemed  to  be  no  undue  excite- 
ment of  any  kind,  no  adequate  outward  manifestation  of 
emotion.  The  number  increased  to  sixty  and  then  to 
eighty.  Saturday  night,  Mr.  Ding  conducted  a “ witness 
meeting  ” in  which  those  who  had  decided  for  the  ministry 
gave  their  reasons.  Only  one  man  wept,  and  none  broke 
down.  But  all  were  conscious  of  a closeness  of  approach 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  such  as  they  had  never  known  before. 
This  spirit  continued  through  Sunday  with  unabated 

105 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


strength,  and  it  was  found  that  116  had  volunteered  for 
the  ministry.  The  number  of  the  students  in  the  College 
is  300  and  in  the  Academy  80.  It  is  a might)*  challenge 
to  the  young  Church  in  Shantung,  as  indeed  it  is  to  the 
Church  at  home,  that  they  fail  not  in  prayer  and  aid  at 
such  a time  as  this. 

The  Arts  College  of  the  North  China  Union 
Colleges  at  Tung-chou,  near  Peking,  witnessed 
similar  scenes.  Following  the  meetings  held  by 
the  Rev.  Ding  Li  Mei,  81  of  the  150  students  de- 
cided to  study  for  the  ministry  and  50  others  con- 
secrated themselves  to  Christian  work  in  other 
professions.  We  have  long  been  hoping  and  pray- 
ing for  the  appearance  of  educated  Chinese  who 
would  give  themselves  to  the  ministry  of  Christ 
among  their  own  people.  God  has  now  answered 
this  prayer  in  a startling  manner. 

Many  in  the  home  Church  are  following  with 
sympathetic  interest  the  remarkable  career  of  the 
Chinese  minister  referred  to,  the  Rev7.  Ding  Li 
Mei.  He  has  become,  under  God,  a mighty  spir- 
itual force  in  China.  He  has  held  meetings  in 
many  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  he 
preaches  the  Gospel  with  such  directness  and  power 
and  supports  it  by  a life  of  such  evident  devotion 
that  the  effect  upon  the  Chinese  is  profound.  No 
other  evangelist  in  all  the  world  is  being  more  won- 
derfully used  of  God  at  this  time  than  this  conse- 
crated Chinese. 

106 


Rev.  Ding  Li  Mei  and  Family 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


Much  might  also  be  said  about  the  great  awak- 
ening in  Manchuria  in  connection  with  the 
preaching  of  the  Rev.  J.  Goforth,  of  the  Canadian 
Presbyterian  Church.  The  pamphlet,  “ Times  of 
Blessing  in  Manchuria,”  recounts  stirring  experi- 
ences. During  the  year  1910,  Mr.  Goforth  con- 
ducted services  in  twenty-eight  centres  in  different 
sections  of  China.  In  Nanking,  the  meetings  were 
held  in  a tent  which  accommodated  1,200  people; 
but  the  interest  was  so  great  that  1,400  and  even 
1,500  people  were  crowded  into  it.  The  usually 
impassive  Chinese  broke  down  completely  before  the 
marked  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  scenes 
were  witnessed  which  missionaries  of  a generation 
ago  would  have  deemed  almost  incredible.  Con- 
version was  invariably  accompanied  by  confession 
of  sin,  and  many  instances  of  restitution  proved 
the  sincerity  of  repentance.  At  Kai-ting,  in  the 
far  west  of  China,  the  meetings  were  characterized 
by  such  spiritual  power,  and  by  such  changes  in 
the  lives  of  converts,  that  non-Christian  Chi- 
nese on  the  streets  said  to  one  another:  “The 
Christian’s  God  has  come  down.”  In  the  Province 
of  Shan-si,  waves  of  confession  and  prayer  passed 
over  the  congregations,  and  the  very  atmosphere 
seemed  charged  with  Pentecostal  influence.  One 
man  confessed  that  during  the  Boxer  Uprising  a 
large  sum  of  money  was  sent  by  the  foreigners  in 
Ping  Yang-fu  to  a missionary  who  afterwards 

107 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


died.  The  money  was  hidden  for  safety  in  the 
court-yard  of  a native  Christian.  He  dug  it  up 
and  used  it;  and  now  after  the  lapse  of  years  he 
made  full  confession.  As  one  of  the  humble  hear- 
ers said,  “ The  Holy  Spirit  surely  has  come.” 

The  Chinese  Recorder  describes  a revival  in 
Hing-hwa  in  the  Province  of  Fo-kien,  which  was 
signalized  by  like  power.  Among  the  converts 
were  members  of  a firm  of  importers  of  morphine, 
who  brought  their  entire  stock  to  the  church  and 
turned  it  over  to  the  pastor  to  be  destroyed.  The 
church,  which  seats  a thousand  people,  could  not 
accommodate  the  throngs  that  attended.  The  first 
triennial  meeting  of  the  Evangelistic  Association 
of  China,  at  Hankow,  December  7-12,  1910,  was 
attended  by  77  foreign  and  158  Chinese  delegates 
representing  eleven  Provinces,  besides  Manchuria 
and  Formosa,  26  Boards  and  5 different  nation- 
alities. Nightly  evangelistic  meetings  in  the  city 
and  in  Wu-chang  across  the  river  were  attended 
by  an  average  of  10,000  people,  about  2,000  of 
whom  were  students. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Hunter  Corbett  writes  of  another 
revival : “ The  members,  wishing  to  have  the  bless- 
ing extended  to  other  centres,  invited  pastors  and 
leading  members  of  churches  in  all  the  surround- 
ing country  to  come  and  receive  a spiritual  uplift 
that  they  might  return  to  their  homes  and  help 
others.  The  Church  sending  the  invitations  sub- 

108 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


scribed  liberally  to  pay  for  the  entertainment  of 
the  guests.  The  members  of  a Training  School 
for  Bible  Women  requested  that  each  might  be 
permitted  to  fast  three  times  a week  for  a month, 
and  that  the  money  saved  be  paid  into  the  enter- 
tainment fund.  Later,  in  scores  of  places,  pastors 
began  to  pray,  first  for  a revival  in  their  own  hearts 
and  then  in  the  Church  and  community;  and  the 
prayers  were  answered.  One  pastor  wrote  of  the 
revival  in  his  Church  that  the  voice  of  praise  and 
the  cry  of  confession  mingled  together.  Daily 
meetings,  twice  a day  for  fifty  days,  had  prepared 
the  large  company  to  expect  great  things  from 
God.  Thousands  instead  of  hundreds,  as  had  been 
expected,  were  present.  Saturday  night  a count  was 
made  and  4,800  were  found.  Sunday  night  there 
were  four  simultaneous  meetings,  aggregating  be- 
tween 6,000  and  7,000.  At  another  centre,  the 
revival  was  preceded  by  more  than  a hundred 
assembling  for  four  days  waiting  upon  the  Lord.” 

The  Rev.  Charles  E.  Scott,  of  Tsing-tau,  writes 
as  follows  of  a tour  which  he  made  in  company 
with  three  Chinese,  a minister,  a teacher  and  an 
elder : 

Three  thousand  people  in  the  groups  heard  the  Gospel 
among  the  villages,  and  twice  that  number  in  the  tent. 
It  mattered  not  that  often  the  air  was  choking  with  dust; 
the  people  listened.  One  afternoon  when  a Christian  and 
I were  out  in  a village,  a wind  blew  up  fierce  and  hot; 

109 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


but  all  the  afternoon  men  crowded  into  that  dirty,  ill- 
smelling room  to  hear  the  Gospel.  When  the  wind  slack- 
ened, the  entire  village  as  it  seemed — patriarchs,  middle- 
aged  and  youth — sat  or  stood  around  us  in  the  dusty 
main  street  to  hear  the  Word.  Each  group  of  workers 
reported  the  same  experience  of  eager,  willing  listeners. 

And  still  the  work  goes  on.  Letters  from  Ichou- 
fu,  Shantung,  include  the  following: 

It  was  almost  with  fear  and  trembling  that  we 
looked  forward  to  the  coming  of  the  Chinese  evangelist, 
Pastor  Ding,  in  January.  There  seemed  so  many  diffi- 
culties in  the  way.  The  time  was  unseasonable,  being  the 
last  month  of  the  Chinese  calendar  when  the  people  are 
busiest.  The  weather  was  very  cold  and  the  roads  unusu- 
ally bad  owing  to  deep  snow,  and  we  feared  that  but  few 
of  the  country  Christians  whom  we  had  invited  would  be 
able  to  come. 

However,  on  the  very  day  of  Pastor  Ding’s  arrival, 
surprises  began.  Day  after  day  the  number  grew,  until 
they  taxed  the  utmost  capacity  of  our  new  church.  On 
the  third  day,  opportunities  were  given  to  those  who 
wished  to  study  the  Gospel  to  come  forward  while  their 
names  were  recorded.  Eighty-two  responded  . . . the 
number  reached  865.  After  a few  more  days,  the  en- 
rolment reached  1,000;  and  still  the  number  grew  until 
it  stood  at  over  1,400. 

It  would  be  easy  to  mention  other  revivals  in 
various  parts  of  China.  But  surely  enough  has 
been  said  to  evoke  profound  thanksgiving  and 
gratitude  to  God  and  to  make  us  feel  that  a new 

1 10 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


day  is  dawning  in  China.  A spiritual  movement 
which  has  manifested  itself  in  such  different  parts 
of  the  Empire  as  Fo-kien,  Kiang-si,  Shan-si,  Shen- 
si, Honan,  Shantung  and  Che-kiang,  which  has 
been  characterized  by  the  preaching  of  Chinese 
ministers  more  than  by  that  of  missionaries,  and 
has  been  attended  by  large  accessions  and  by  the 
enriched  spiritual  life  of  the  Church,  unmistakably 
indicates  a mighty  trend  toward  the  goals  of  God. 

I would  not  give  the  impression  that  all  China 
is  about  to  become  Christian  and  that  there  is  no 
reason  for  anxiety.  Side  by  side  with  these  re- 
markable manifestations  of  spiritual  power,  there 
are  evidences  of  growing  suspicion  and  even  of  hos- 
tility. This  might  normally  be  expected.  As  long 
as  the  work  was  small  and  obscure,  there  was  no 
special  reason  why  the  Chinese  as  a whole  should 
assume  any  particular  attitude  toward  it.  Multi- 
tudes indeed  knew  nothing  about  it,  and  many 
who  did  know  regarded  it  with  contemptuous  in- 
difference. As  numbers  grow  and  as  congregations 
become  more  influential,  the  Chinese  people  begin 
to  consider  this  new  movement.  Indifference 
changes  to  curiosity,  and  this  in  turn  develops 
into  either  open  sympathy  or  open  opposition. 
This  is  indicative  not  of  failure,  but  of  success. 
Brighter  lights  always  mean  darker  shadows. 
Christianity  in  China  has  reached  the  point  where 
men  are  taking  sides  for  or  against  it. 

1 1 1 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


Much  has  been  said  about  the  character  of  the 
Chinese  Christians  and  doubts  have  been  ignorantly 
cast  on  the  genuineness  of  their  faith.  They  do 
sometimes  try  the  patience  of  the  missionary;  but 
is  the  home  pastor  never  distressed  by  the  con- 
duct of  his  people?  The  real  question  is  this:  Is 
the  Christian  Chinese  a better  man  than  the  non- 
Christian  Chinese,  more  moral,  more  truthful, 
more  just,  more  reliable  ? The  answer  is  so  patent 
that  no  one  who  knows  the  facts  can  doubt  it  for 
a moment.  The  best  men  and  women  in  China 
to-day  are  Christians.  This  is  not  saying  that 
all  church  members  are  good  or  that  all  non- 
Christian  Chinese  are  bad;  but  it  is  saying  that 
comparing  the  average  Christian  with  the  average 
non-Christian,  the  superiority  of  the  former  in 
those  things  which  make  for  character  and  conduct 
is  immeasurable. 

Is  it  said  that  the  Chinese  have  become  Chris- 
tians for  gain?  Then  how  shall  we  account  for 
the  fact  that  out  of  their  deep  poverty  they  give 
more  for  church  work  in  proportion  to  their  abil- 
ity than  Christians  at  home?  Some  Americans 
join  American  Churches  for  business  or  social  ends 
and  probably  some  Chinese  have  professed  conver- 
sion in  the  hope  of  securing  employment;  but  the 
average  Chinese  incurs  financial  loss  rather  than 
gain  if  he  becomes  a Christian.  Self-support  of  the 
Church  has  been  so  vigorously  pushed  that  Chinese 

1 12 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


Christians  know  that  they  will  probably  receive 
less  and  less  from  abroad.  But  the  number  grows 
with  remarkable  rapidity.  Missionary  correspond- 
ence indicates  evidences  of  fidelity  in  service,  of 
tribulation  joyfully  borne,  of  systematic  giving  out 
of  scanty  resources.  While  sapient  critics  are  tell- 
ing us  that  the  Chinese  cannot  be  converted,  they 
are  not  only  being  converted  but  are  manifesting 
a consecration  and  self-denial  which  should  shame 
many  in  Christian  lands. 

The  history  of  missions  in  China  has  shown  that 
it  requires  more  time  to  convert  a Chinese  to  Chris- 
tianity than  some  other  Asiatics,  but  that  when  he 
is  converted,  he  holds  to  his  new  faith  with  a tenac- 
ity and  fortitude  which  the  most  awful  persecution 
seldom  shakes.  The  behavior  of  the  Chinese 
Christians  under  the  baptism  of  blood  and  fire  to 
which  they  were  subjected  in  the  Boxer  Uprising 
eloquently  testified  to  the  genuineness  of  their 
faith.  That  some  should  have  fallen  away  was 
to  be  expected.  Not  every  Christian,  even  in  the 
United  States,  can  “ endure  hardness.”  Let  a hun- 
dred men  anywhere  be  told  that  if  they  do  not 
abandon  their  faith,  their  homes  will  be  burned, 
their  business  ruined,  their  wives  ravished,  their 
children  brained,  and  they  themselves  scourged 
and  beheaded,  and  a proportion  of  them  will  flinch. 

But  as  I visited  the  scenes  of  disaster  in  1901, 
saw  the  frightful  ruin,  heard  the  stories  of  Chris- 

113 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


tians  and  missionaries,  faced  the  little  companies 
of  survivors  and  learned  more  of  the  awful  ordeal 
through  which  they  had  passed,  I marveled,  not 
that  some  had  yielded,  but  that  so  many  stood 
steadfast.  The  uneducated  peasant  was  no  whit 
behind  his  cultivated  countrymen  in  devotion  to 
duty.  A poor  cook  was  seized  and  beaten,  his 
ears  were  cut  off,  his  mouth  and  cheeks  gashed  with 
a sword  and  other  unspeakable  mutilations  in- 
flicted. Yet  he  stood  as  firmly  as  any  martyr  of 
the  early  Church. 

One  of  the  Chinese  preachers,  on  refusing  to 
apostatize,  received  a hundred  blows  upon  his  bare 
back,  and  then  the  bleeding  sufferer  was  told  to 
choose  between  obedience  and  another  hundred 
blows.  What  would  we  have  answered?  Let  us, 
who  have  never  been  called  on  to  suffer  for  Christ, 
be  modest  in  saying  what  we  would  have  done. 
But  that  mangled,  half-dead  Chinese  gasped:  “ I 
value  Jesus  Christ  more  than  life  and  I will  never 
deny  Him ! ” Before  all  of  the  second  hundred 
blows  could  be  inflicted,  unconsciousness  came  and 
he  was  left  for  dead.  A friend  took  him  away  by 
night,  bathed  his  wounds,  and  secretly  nursed  him 
to  recovery.  I saw  him  and  looked  reverently 
upon  the  flesh  that  was  seamed  and  scarred  with 
“ the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus.”  Of  the  hundreds 
of  Christians  wrho  were  taken  inside  the  British 
legation  camps  in  Peking,  not  one  proved  false 

114 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  their  benefactors.  Even  the  children  were  faith- 
ful. During  the  tumult  of  bursting  shells  and  the 
roar  of  burning  buildings,  the  voices  of  the  Junior 
Christian  Endeavor  Society  were  heard  singing: 

There’ll  be  no  dark  valley  when  Jesus  comes. 

Such  instances  could  be  multiplied  almost  in- 
definitely from  the  experiences  of  Chinese  Chris- 
tians during  the  Boxer  Uprising.  Indeed  the 
fortitude  of  the  persecuted  Christians  was  so  re- 
markable that  in  many  cases  the  Boxers  cut  out  the 
hearts  of  their  victims  to  find  the  secret  of  such 
sublime  faith,  declaring,  “ They  have  eaten  the 
foreigner’s  medicine.”  In  those  humble  Chinese 
the  world  has  again  seen  a vital  faith,  again  seen 
that  the  age  of  heroism  has  not  passed,  again  seen 
that  men  and  women  are  willing  to  die  for  Christ. 
Multitudes  withstood  a persecution  as  frightful  as 
that  of  the  early  disciples  in  the  arenas  of  Nero. 
If  they  were  hypocrites,  why  did  they  not  recant? 
“ One-tenth  of  the  hypocrisy  with  which  they  were 
charged  would  have  saved  them  from  martyrdom.” 
But  thousands  died  rather  than  abjure  their  faith, 
and  thousands  more  “ had  trial  of  mockings  and 
scourgings,  yea,  moreover  of  bonds  and  imprison- 
ment; they  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn  asunder, 
they  were  tempted,  they  were  slain  with  the  sword; 
they  went  about  in  sheepskins,  in  goatskins;  being 
destitute,  afflicted,  evil  entreated;  . . . wandering 

n 5 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


in  deserts  and  mountains  and  caves  and  the  holes 
of  the  earth.”  And  of  them  as  of  the  saints  of 
old  we  may  say,  “ of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy.” 

The  attitude  of  the  Chinese  people  as  a whole 
toward  missionaries  is  not  so  much  anti-Christian 
as  anti-foreign.  As  missionaries  become  better 
known,  they  are,  as  a rule,  more  popular  with  the 
Chinese  than  other  foreigners,  or  at  any  rate  less 
disliked;  for  they  get  into  closer  touch  with  the 
people,  speak  their  language,  are  more  careful  to 
respect  native  customs,  and  show  lives  of  unselfish 
devotion.  At  first,  indeed,  officials  in  particular  re- 
garded missionaries  with  a suspicion  which  in- 
cluded an  element  of  contempt.  They  did  not 
understand  why  missionaries  came.  The  idea  that 
white  men  would  incur  so  much  trouble  and  ex- 
pense from  disinterested  motives  seemed  prepos- 
terous. Ulterior  designs  were  invariably  suspected, 
and  these  designs  were  ordinarily  believed  to  be 
of  a political  character.  This  belief  was  strength- 
ened by  the  close  relations  of  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries with  the  political  ambitions  of  France; 
while  the  number  of  times  that  British,  German 
and  American  diplomatic  and  consular  officials 
pressed  questions  affecting  Protestant  missionaries 
and  their  property  sometimes  brought  the  latter 
under  the  same  suspicion.  Native  officials  seldom 
understood  the  difference  between  Roman  Catholic 

116 


Union  Medical  College,  Peking 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


and  Protestant  missionaries.  They  simply  knew 
that  missionaries  were  at  work;  and  when  com- 
plaints were  sent  in,  the  reports  usually  failed  to 
specify  the  affiliations  of  the  alleged  offenders. 
The  consequence  was  that  Protestant  missionaries 
generally  shared  in  the  odium  which  the  policy  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  developed. 

I am  not  criticizing  the  Roman  Catholic  Church; 
I am  simply  referring  to  the  well-known  historical 
fact  that  the  policy  of  that  Church  in  Asia  is  more 
aggressive  in  property  matters  and  in  support  of 
converts  who  are  involved  in  law-suits  than  the 
policy  of  Protestant  Societies.  The  result  is  that 
Roman  Catholics  have  stirred  up  antagonisms 
which  Protestant  missionaries  usually  avoid.  The 
Imperial  Edict  of  March  15,  1899,  which  gave  of- 
ficial rank  to  Roman  Catholic  priests  and  bishops 
and  which  was  a source  of  great  irritation  to  the 
Chinese,  was  rescinded  in  1908.  The  forty  bish- 
ops and  1,201  priests  in  China  now  have  the  same 
relation  to  the  Government  as  Protestant  mission- 
aries ; or  rather,  Roman  Catholics,  like  Protestants, 
have  no  official  relation  to  the  Government  at  all. 
Time  has  thus  vindicated  the  wisdom  of  Protestant 
missionaries  in  declining  the  official  status  which 
was  offered  to  them  as  well  as  to  Roman  Catholics 
when  the  French  Minister  at  Peking  extorted  the 
privilege  from  the  Government  in  1899. 

The  position  of  Protestant  missionaries  is  now 
ii7 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


beginning  to  be  better  understood.  Instances  of 
personal  friendship  are  more  numerous.  Prefects, 
tao-tais,  governors  and  viceroys  have  visited 
mission  schools  and  hospitals  and  manifested  keen 
interest.  In  the  fall  of  1907,  twenty-five  mission- 
aries representing  various  Boards  were  in  confer- 
ence at  Tsinan-fu,  the  capital  of  Shantung,  and 
inquired  whether  the  Governor  would  receive  a 
committee  to  pay  respects  in  behalf  of  the  confer- 
ence. He  replied  that  he  would  be  glad  to  have 
the  missionaries  call  in  a body.  When  they  did  so, 
they  were  received  with  every  mark  of  cordiality. 
The  Governor  returned  the  call  the  following  day, 
accompanied  by  a number  of  high  officials  and  a 
military  escort,  and  invited  all  the  missionaries  to 
a feast  at  his  yamen  the  same  evening.  There  he 
again  received  the  missionaries  with  even7  honor. 
The  feast  was  served  in  foreign  style  and  would 
have  done  credit  to  any  hotel  in  the  home  land. 
The  Governor  made  an  address,  in  which  he  spoke 
in  high  terms  of  the  work  of  the  missionaries  and 
the  help  which  they  were  giving  in  many  w’ays  to 
his  people.  This  was  the  official  who,  while  hold- 
ing a high  position  in  the  Province  of  Shan-si 
during  the  Boxer  Uprising,  was  commanded  by  his 
Governor,  Yu  Hsien,  notorious  for  the  murder  of 
seventy  missionaries,  to  kill  all  the  missionaries  re- 
siding in  his  district.  He  promptly  assembled  forty7 
missionaries,  but  sent  them  under  military  escort 

118 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


to  a place  of  safety,  saying  that  he  could  not  kill 
good  and  law-abiding  men  and  women. 

On  a steamer  off  the  coast  of  China,  I noticed 
that  a fellow  passenger  was  a Chinese  official  whose 
dress  and  retinue  indicated  rank.  As  soon  as  he 
learned  that  I was  from  New  York  and  connected 
with  Presbyterian  mission  work,  he  eagerly  in- 
quired whether  I knew  a Miss  Rogers.  When  I 
replied  that  I did,  he  expressed  gratification,  ex- 
plaining that  many  years  ago,  when  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  consular  service,  he  had  studied 
English  in  New  York  under  Miss  Rogers.  He 
spoke  of  her  with  marked  respect  and  gratitude, 
and  asked  me  to  take  her  his  card  and  a message 
of  remembrance.  He  was  not  a Christian,  but  his 
conversation  indicated  that  he  had  received  from 
Miss  Rogers  an  impression  of  missionary  charac- 
ter and  purpose  which  made  him  sympathetic,  and 
he  freely  admitted  the  resultant  influence  upon  his 
own  life. 

It  was  arranged  that  I should  meet  the  Vice- 
President  of  the  Imperial  Board  of  Education  in 
Peking.  At  the  appointed  time,  I drove  to  his  of- 
ficial residence,  in  company  with  the  Rev.  J.  Wal- 
ter Lowrie,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  William  Gleysteen. 
No  sooner  had  we  entered,  than  the  Vice-President 
recognized  Dr.  Lowrie  with  evident  pleasure,  in- 
quired about  the  health  of  his  mother,  expressed 
deep  sympathy  when  he  learned  that  she  was  dead, 

119 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


and  asked  many  questions  regarding  Dr.  Lowrie 
and  his  friends  in  Paoting-fu.  It  appeared  that 
many  years  ago,  when  this  Chinese  gentleman,  who 
is  a Hanlin  scholar  of  the  highest  rank,  visited  a 
friend  in  Paoting-fu,  he  was  suddenly  taken  ill, 
and  that  he  was  treated  for  several  months  by  the 
missionary  physician  at  that  time,  Dr.  George 
Yardley  Taylor.  It  would  be  unfair  to  represent 
the  Vice-President  as  a Christian  or  as  expressing 
any  interest  in  Christianity;  but  I was  impressed  by 
the  fact  that  he  had  come  into  such  personal  con- 
tact with  the  missionaries  at  Paoting-fu  that  he 
had  formed  a favorable  opinion  of  their  character 
and  worth. 

It  would  be  easy  to  cite  instances  of  sym- 
pathetic comprehension  of  Christian  missionaries 
and  their  work.  But  there  are  two  sides  to  almost 
every  question  in  China.  Taking  the  official  class 
throughout  the  Empire,  it  must  be  admitted  that, 
prior  to  the  Revolution,  it  was  suspicious  and  re- 
sentful. The  suspicion  was  not  so  often  mingled 
with  contempt  as  it  was  formerly;  it  was  more 
often  mingled  with  fear.  Official  China  believed 
that  the  success  of  the  missionary  enterprise  would 
be  subversive  of  some  of  the  most  sacred  and  time- 
honored  customs  of  the  Empire,  particularly  of 
ancestral  worship  and  that  reverence  for  Confucius 
and  his  teachings  to  which  China  clings  as 
tenaciously  as  ever.  These  officials  were  not  blind 

120 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


to  the  growing  numbers  and  power  of  the  Mis- 
sions and  the  Chinese  Churches,  and  they  were  be- 
ginning to  be  apprehensive  lest  the  Christian  move- 
ment might  attain  larger  proportions  than  they 
had  at  first  deemed  possible. 

The  exclusion  of  Chinese  graduates  of  mission 
schools  from  the  new  Provincial  Assemblies  was  a 
disquieting  sign  of  this.  There  has  been  much 
speculation  as  to  the  cause  of  this  action ; but  some 
reasons  are  apparent.  To  the  average  Chinese 
official,  Christianity  was  still  the  foreigner’s  reli- 
gion. He  saw  that  the  mission  schools  were  con- 
trolled by  foreigners,  and  he  suspected  that  Chinese 
who  had  been  trained  in  them  had  been  educated 
away  from  things  Chinese  and  had  allied  them- 
selves with  aliens  who  were  trying  to  overthrow  the 
worship  of  Confucius  and  to  subvert  national  cus- 
toms. He  therefore  naturally  hesitated  to  permit 
Chinese  of  this  alleged  type  to  make  laws  for 
China  and  to  advise  the  Government  in  political 
matters.  This  consideration  was  intensified,  in 
some  places  at  least,  by  the  fact  that  some  gradu- 
ates of  mission  schools  were  men  of  such  superior 
capacity  that  they  would  probably  exert  dispropor- 
tionate influence  in  the  Provincial  Assemblies. 

The  Revolution  has  done  much  to  change  this 
attitude.  This  was  partly  because  the  position  and 
course  of  the  missionaries  during  the  Revolution 
exerted  a most  mollifying  influence  on  many  who 

1 2 I 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


had  formerly  opposed  or  ignored  them.  When 
the  strife  divided  communities  into  rival  parties 
and  men  on  each  side  feared  ruin  and  death  from 
men  on  the  other  side,  the  mission  compounds 
were,  as  a rule,  the  only  neutral  places.  In  these 
circumstances,  not  only  merchants,  but  magistrates, 
and  even  army  officers  besought  the  missionaries  to 
shelter  their  families.  At  Yeung-kong,  the  com- 
manding General  sent  his  wTife  and  children  for 
protection  to  the  mission  compound,  and  the  next 
morning  the  Chief  of  Police  asked  the  missionaries 
to  receive  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  county  and 
his  family.  This  experience  of  the  missionaries 
was  repeated  at  scores  of  stations.  Proud  Man- 
chus  in  Peking,  who  a few  months  before  would 
have  contemptuously  repelled  any  advance  from 
missionaries,  now  implored  them  to  open  their 
homes  to  them  and  their  families.  In  many  stations, 
the  throng  of  women  and  children,  sometimes  of 
Imperialists,  sometimes  of  Revolutionists,  was  so 
great  as  to  crowTd  the  Station  enclosure.  Where  there 
was  fighting,  as  at  Hankow  and  Nanking,  nearly  ail 
the  Red  Cross  work  of  caring  for  the  wounded  of 
both  armies  was  done  by  missionaries.  Mission  sur- 
geons and  nurses  worked  night  and  day;  while  in 
the  final  struggle  in  Nanking,  missionaries  brought 
the  Generals  of  the  contending  forces  together  and 
arranged  the  terms  of  capitulation. 

The  leaders  of  the  revolutionary  party  are  dis- 
122 


Types  of  Educated  Christian  Women 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

tinctly  more  favorable  to  Christianity  than  the  re- 
actionary Manchus  and  their  Chinese  sympathizers 
of  the  old  regime.  Indeed  some  of  the  new  lead- 
ers are  themselves  Christians.  Dr.  Sun  Yat  Sen, 
Provisional  President  of  the  Republic,  General  Li 
Yuan  Heng,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  revolu- 
tionary army  and  later  Provisional  Vice-President 
of  the  Republic,  Wang  Chong  Wei,  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  C.  T.  Wang,  who  was  named  by 
the  Provisional  Republic  as  Minister  to  the  United 
States,  and  Fay  Chi  Ho,  Sun  Yat  Sen’s  private 
secretary  and  a graduate  of  Oberlin  College,  are 
all  Christian  men.  Wang  Chong  Wei  is  the  son 
of  a Congregational  Chinese  clergyman  in  Canton 
and  one  of  his  two  brothers  is  the  President  of  the 
China  Merchants’  Steamship  Company  and  the 
other  is  President  of  the  Han-yang  Iron  Works; 
all  three  being  earnest  Christians.  Seven  of  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet  of  the  Provisional  Re- 
public are  graduates  of  American  colleges.  When 
Fo-kien  Province  went  over  to  the  Revolutionists, 
November  9,  19 11,  it  vested  the  government  in 
eight  Commissions.  The  Presidents  of  four  were 
Christians.  One  of  them,  Nong  Nai  Siong,  Presi- 
dent of  Posts  and  Communications,  has  been  an 
active  Christian  for  thirty  years  and  a frequent 
preacher  in  the  churches.  Another,  Ding  Neng 
Guong,  President  of  Foreign  Affairs,  is  also  an  ac- 
tive Christian  worker  and  a graduate  of  a mission 

123 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


college.  The  Vice-President  of  this  Board,  Ling 
Ding  Ming,  who  was  one  of  the  two  representa- 
tives of  the  Province  in  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion in  Shanghai,  is  also  a Christian.  Miss  Harriet 
Noyes,  of  Canton,  says  that  the  report  is  current 
there  that  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Revolution  are  either  Christians  or  are  favor- 
ably disposed  toward  Christianity.  Men  who  have 
had  a modern  education  either  in  mission  schools 
or  in  foreign  lands  are  not  likely  to  become  perse- 
cutors of  Christianity,  although  they  may  not  be- 
come Christians  themselves. 

One  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  Revolution  was  the 
development  of  a movement  among  Chinese  Chris- 
tians to  have  an  article  guaranteeing  religious  lib- 
erty incorporated  in  the  new  constitution  which,  it 
was  assumed,  the  Republic  would  adopt.  Sun  Yat 
Sen  openly  declared  that  the  Republic  would  give 
such  liberty,  and  one  of  the  early  pronouncements 
of  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  after  his  election  to  the  Presi- 
dency, was  a declaration  favorable  to  religious 
freedom.  Heretofore  the  measure  of  freedom 
which  Christianity  had  was  that  of  more  or  less 
reluctant  toleration  covered  by  treaties  with  west- 
ern nations.  If,  as  now  appears  probable,  Chris- 
tianity is  given  positive  instead  of  negative  rights, 
if  its  status  is  not  a concession  to  a foreigner’s  re- 
quest but  that  of  a religion  which  the  Chinese 
themselves  voluntarily  recognize,  the  gain  will  be 

124 


CONSTRUCTIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


great  and  far-reaching.  In  any  event,  it  appears 
certain  that  the  prestige  of  the  missionary  and  of 
his  work  in  China  have  been  enormously  increased, 
and  that  whether  religious  liberty  is  written  into  the 
letter  of  the  Constitution  or  not,  the  new  era  will 
be  more  free  for  Christian  work  than  was  the  old. 

Emphasis  should  be  given  to  the  fact  that  the 
missionary  enterprise  is  absolutely  neutral  on  ques- 
tions that  are  purely  political.  Missionaries  and 
Chinese  Christians  were  against  the  Manchu  Dy- 
nasty, not  because  it  was  a monarchy,  but  because 
it  was  corrupt  and  was  the  enemy  of  liberty  and 
progress.  When  the  Dynasty  was  overturned,  mis- 
sionaries and  Chinese  Christians  were  divided  in 
opinion,  like  other  men  in  and  out  of  China,  as  to 
whether  a republic  or  a constitutional  monarchy  was 
better  for  China,  and  they  would  have  been  faith- 
ful citizens  under  either  one.  Christians  in  other 
lands  show  the  same  differences  in  political  matters. 
They  are  republicans  in  France  and  America,  and 
loyal  monarchists  in  England,  Germany,  Japan 
and  Siam.  Any  form  of  government  that  is  ad- 
ministered in  the  spirit  of  justice,  humanity  and 
enlightenment  has  nothing  to  fear  from  Christian- 
ity; but  a government  that  is  characterized  by 
fraud  and  greed  and  oppression  has  everything  to 
fear  from  it,  whether  it  be  that  of  a Manchu 
Emperor  in  China  or  of  a republican  political 
“ boss  ” in  the  United  States. 

125 


CHAPTER  VI 


CONSTITUTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  SOCIAL 
REFORM 

Some  of  the  Chinese  began  to  realize  that 
changes  were  inevitable,  and  a Reform  Party  de- 
veloped. It  was  not  large,  but  it  included  some 
influential  men,  though  their  zeal  was  not  always 
tempered  by  discretion.  The  war  with  Japan  in 
1894  powerfully  aided  them.  True,  many  of  the 
Chinese  did  not  know  that  there  was  such  a war, 
for  news  traveled  slowly  in  a land  which  then  had 
few  railways,  telegraphs  and  newspapers,  and 
whose  average  inhabitant  had  never  been  twenty 
miles  from  the  village  in  which  he  was  bom.  But 
those  who  did  know  realized  that  Japan  had  won 
by  western  methods.  An  eagerness  to  acquire 
these  methods  resulted.  Missionaries  were  besieged 
by  Chinese  who  wished  to  learn  English.  Modern 
books  were  given  a wide  circulation.  Several  of 
the  influential  advisers  of  the  Emperor  became 
students  of  Occidental  science  and  political  econ- 
omy. In  five  years,  1893-1898,  the  book  sales 
of  The  Christian  Literature  Society  rose  from 

126 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


$817  to  $18,457,  and  every  mission  press  in  the 
country  was  run  to  its  utmost  capacity  to  supply 
the  new  demands. 

A powerful  exponent  of  the  new  ideas  appeared 
in  the  great  Viceroy,  Chang  Chih-tung.  He  wrote 
a book,  entitled  “ China’s  Only  Hope,”  exposing 
the  causes  of  China’s  weakness  and  advocating 
radical  reforms.  The  book  was  printed  by  the 
Tsung-li  Yamen  and  copies  were  sent  by  royal  com- 
mand to  the  high  officials  of  the  Empire.  Big  yel- 
low posters  advertised  it  from  the  walls  of  leading 
cities,  and  in  a short  time  a million  copies  were 
sold.  It  has  been  said,  and  without  exaggeration, 
that  “ this  book  made  more  history  in  a shorter 
time  than  any  other  modern  piece  of  literature,  that 
it  astonished  a kingdom,  convulsed  an  empire,  and 
brought  on  a war.” 

The  Reform  Party  urged  the-  young  Emperor  to 
use  the  Imperial  power  for  the  advancement  of  his 
people.  He  yielded  to  the  pressure  and  became 
an  eager  student  of  western  learning.  In  the  open- 
ing months  of  1898,  he  bought  no  less  than  129 
foreign  books,  including  a Bible  and  several  scien- 
tific works,  besides  maps,  globes,  and  wind  and  cur- 
rent charts.  With  the  ardor  of  a new  convert  he 
issued  reform  edicts,  which,  if  they  could  have 
been  carried  into  effect,  would  have  uprooted  many 
abuses  and  opened  all  China  to  the  modern  world. 

But  it  is  disastrous  to  try  to  “ hustle  the  East.” 
127 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


The  nation  was  not  then  ready  for  such  a pro- 
gram, and  it  had  no  confidence  in  a Manchu  leader. 
A host  of  scholars  and  officials,  who  saw  their 
hopes  and  position  jeopardized  by  the  new  tests, 
protested  with  the  virulence  of  the  silversmiths  of 
Ephesus,  and  all  the  conservatism  of  China  ral- 
lied to  their  support.  On  September  22nd,  1898, 
the  Emperor  was  made  a prisoner  in  one  of  his  own 
palaces  and  the  reactionary  Empress  Dowager 
took  full  control  of  the  Government  and  proceeded 
to  make  waste  paper  of  the  reform  edicts. 

Meantime,  the  Yellow  River,  aptly  named 
“ China’s  Sorrow,”  again  overflowed  its  banks,  dev- 
astating a region  a hundred  miles  long  and  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty  miles  wide.  Three  hundred 
villages  were  swept  away  and  a million  people 
made  homeless.  Famine  and  pestilence  speedily 
followed,  so  that  the  whole  catastrophe  assumed 
appalling  proportions.  Even  American  communi- 
ties are  apt  to  become  reckless  and  riotous  in  time 
of  calamity,  and  in  China  this  tendency  of  human 
nature  was  intensified  by  a superstition  which  led 
the  people  to  believe  that  the  gods  were  angry  be- 
cause the  traditions  of  the  fathers  were  being  dis- 
regarded. 

The  popular  excitement  and  alarm  found  ex- 
pression in  the  sudden  uprising  of  two  of  the 
revolutionary  societies  which  had  long  flourished 
among  the  people,  the  members  of  which  now  be- 

128 


Students  playing  basket-ball 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


came  popularly  known  as  “ The  Boxers.”  The 
astute  Empress  Dowager,  who  headed  the  protest 
against  the  headlong  progressiveness  of  the  young 
Emperor,  encouraged  them  and  thus  turned  one  of 
the  most  troublesome  foes  of  the  Manchu  throne 
against  the  common  enemy,  the  foreigner.  Under 
her  influence,  the  depredations  of  the  Boxers 
spread  with  the  swiftness  of  a prairie  fire,  until  in 
the  spring  of  1900  the  most  important  Provinces 
of  the  Empire  were  ablaze  and  the  Legations  in 
Peking  were  closely  besieged. 

And  so  the  irrepressible  conflict  broke  out.  It 
had  to  come,  a conflict  between  conservatism  and 
progress,  between  race  prejudice  and  brotherhood, 
between  superstition  and  Christianity,  the  tremen- 
dous conflict  of  ages  which  every  nation  has  had 
to  fight,  and  which  in  China  was  not  different  in 
kind  but  only  on  a more  colossal  scale,  because 
there  it  involved  such  a vast  population  at  a crisis 
of  new  world  relationships. 

Though  missionaries  were  not  the  real  cause  of 
the  Boxer  Uprising,  its  calamities  fell  heavily  upon 
them.  This  was  partly  because  many  of  them 
were  living  at  exposed  points  in  the  interior,  while 
most  other  foreigners  were  assembled  in  the  treaty 
ports  where  they  were  better  protected;  partly  be- 
cause the  movement  developed  such  hysterical 
frenzy  that  it  attacked  with  blind  fury  every  ac- 
cessible foreigner;  and  partly  because  in  most 

129 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


places  the  actual  killing  and  pillaging  were  not 
done  by  the  people  who  best  knew  the  missionaries 
but  by  mobs  from  the  slums,  ruffians  from  other 
villages,  or,  as  in  Paoting-fu  and  Shan-si,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  direct  orders  of  bigoted  officials. 

The  allied  armies  of  Europe  and  America 
finally  crushed  the  uprising.  Bitter  was  the  hu- 
miliation of  the  Government  and  people.  The 
proud  Empress  Dowager  became  a fugitive.  The 
Imperial  city  was  captured  and  alien  soldiers 
camped  in  the  sacred  enclosure  of  the  Temple  of 
Heaven  and  looted  the  royal  palaces.  The  Gov- 
ernments of  the  West,  too,  imposed  terms  of  peace 
which  were  grievous  to  the  Chinese : an  extortion- 
ate indemnity  of  450,000,000  taels,  apologies  to 
Germany  for  the  murder  of  its  Minister  and  to 
Japan  for  the  assassination  of  the  Chancellor  of 
its  Legation,  the  erection  of  monuments  in  ceme- 
teries, and  the  making  of  new  commercial  treaties. 
The  Chinese  were  cut  to  the  quick  by  being  told, 
among  other  things,  that  they  must  not  import 
firearms  for  two  years;  that  no  official  examina- 
tions could  be  held  for  five  years  in  the  cities  where 
foreigners  had  been  attacked;  that  an  important 
part  of  the  Imperial  capital  would  be  added  to  the 
already  spacious  grounds  of  the  foreign  Legations 
and  that  they  would  be  fortified  and  garrisoned  by 
foreign  guards;  that  the  Taku  forts,  which  de- 
fended the  sea  entrance  to  Peking,  would  be  razed, 

13° 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


and  the  railway  to  the  capital  occupied  by  foreign 
troops;  that  members  of  anti-foreign  societies  were 
to  be  executed ; that  officials,  even  though  they  were 
Viceroys,  were  to  be  summarily  dismissed  and  dis- 
graced if  they  did  not  prevent  further  anti-foreign 
outbreaks;  that  court  ceremonies  in  relation  to 
foreign  ministers  must  conform  to  western  ideas; 
and  that  the  Tsung-li  Yamen  (Foreign  Office) 
must  be  abolished  and  a new  ministry  of  foreign 
affairs  erected,  the  Wai-wu  Pu,  which  must  be  re- 
garded as  the  highest  of  the  departments  instead 
of  the  lowest.  China’s  cup  of  humiliation  was  in- 
deed full. 

The  failure  of  the  Boxer  Uprising  taught  the 
Chinese  the  futility  of  the  attempt  to  maintain  the 
isolation  of  former  ages.  The  new  ideas  surged 
into  the  country  in  increasing  volume  and  the  more 
intelligent  of  the  people  began  to  accept  the  in- 
evitable and  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  conditions 
of  the  new  era.  Even,  the  Manchu  Government 
found  itself  obliged  to  recognize  the  rising  popu- 
lar demand.  In  1906,  Imperial  High  Commis- 
sions were  sent  to  Europe  and  America  to  study 
western  institutions  and  report  what  there  was  in 
them  that  China  might  wisely  imitate.  These 
Commissions  did  their  work  as  well  as  could  have 
been  expected  under  the  circumstances.  Viceroy 
Tuan  Fang,  who  headed  the  Commission  to  the 
United  States,  was  undoubtedly  the  most  progres- 

131 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


sive  of  the  Manchus  and  he  made  an  excellent 
impression  in  America.  Both  Commissions  pre- 
sented many  far-reaching  recommendations  on 
their  return  to  Peking,  and  reform  edicts  of  a 
remarkable  character  soon  followed. 

How  much  real  earnestness  these  edicts  repre- 
sented it  would  be  difficult  to  tell.  The  graciously 
worded  edict  was  a favorite  expedient  of  the 
Imperial  Government  in  China.  It  so  freely  praised 
everything  that  reformers  wTere  conciliated  and  op- 
position was  disarmed;  but  most  of  the  edicts  were 
never  carried  out  and  wTere  never  intended  to  be 
carried  out.  Still,  it  was  not  wholly  without  signifi- 
cance that  in  1907  an  Imperial  Edict  announced  a 
nine  years’  program  for  the  development  of  consti- 
tutional government.  On  September  20th  an  Im- 
perial Edict  provided  for  the  establishment  of  a 
National  Assembly  at  Peking  to  consider  questions 
affecting  the  interests  of  the  State.  Ten  days  later, 
another  Edict  ordered  the  appointment  of  towm 
councils  and  local  representatives;  and  on  October 
1 8th,  a third  Edict  directed  the  establishment  of 
Provincial  Assemblies.  China  thus  provided  for 
a graded  system  of  representative  bodies  from 
town  councils  to  Provincial  and  National  Assem- 
blies. The  qualifications  for  membership  wrere 
partly  property  and  partly  educational.  Any  male 
who  had  property  amounting  to  5,000  taels,  or 
who  held  a degree  under  the  old  examination  sys- 

132 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


tem,  or  who  had  been  graduated  from  a Govern- 
ment middle  or  high  school,  might  be  chosen. 

The  nine  years’  program  referred  to  included 
the  following: 

First  Year:  opening  of  local  self-government  councils, 
enactment  of  self-government  regulations,  adjust- 
ment of  finances,  and  taking  of  a census; 

Second  Year:  putting  in  force  of  local  self-government 
electoral  law,  announcement  of  regulations  for  par- 
liamentary representation,  investigation  of  provincial 
revenues,  organization  of  courts  of  justice; 

Third  Year:  convocation  of  parliamentary  representation 
councils,  promulgation  of  new  criminal  law,  experi- 
mental government  budget,  regulations  for  official 
recommendations  and  fees; 

Fourth  Year:  promulgation  of  local  court  laws; 

Fifth  Year:  issue  of  new  regulations  for  taxation  and  an- 
nouncement of  new  government  organizations; 
Sixth  Year:  commencement  of  administrative  justice, 
adoption  of  budget; 

Seventh  Year:  preparation  of  accounts  of  government 
revenues  and  expenditure; 

Eighth  Year:  fixing  of  Imperial  Household  expenditure, 
establishment  of  judicial  bureau,  and  issue  of  sta- 
tistics ; 

Ninth  Year:  announcement  of  the  Imperial  Constitution 
and  the  Imperial  Household  law,  promulgation  of 
election  law. 

As  signs  of  the  coming  storm  became  more 
ominous,  the  Manchu  rulers  began  to  make  fur- 

133 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


ther  concessions.  In  1907,  the  members  of  the 
Grand  Council  and  the  Presidents  of  the  Minis- 
tries of  State  submitted  memorials  to  the  Throne 
advising  the  abolition  of  useless  Manchu  garri- 
sons; appointment  of  both  Manchus  and  Chinese 
to  all  posts  throughout  the  Empire  without  favor; 
alteration  of  dress  by  Manchu  women  and  girls  as 
far  as  possible;  allowing  Manchus  to  become  mer- 
chants and  do  business  in  the  same  way  as  Chinese 
so  that  they  might  support  their  families  without 
depending  upon  their  military  pay  which  should 
be  gradually  abolished  during  the  next  ten  years; 
encouragement  of  intermarriage  between  Manchu 
and  Chinese  officials;  enlistment  of  both  Manchus 
and  Chinese  for  military  service  without  distinc- 
tion; and  infliction  of  severe  penalties  upon  Man- 
chu or  Chinese  authorities  who  attempted  to  create 
barriers  between  the  two  races.  Most  of  these 
recommendations  were  later  promulgated  in  Im- 
perial decrees;  but  the  Chinese  were  now  becom- 
ing conscious  of  their  power  and  refused  to  be 
placated  by  half-way  measures. 

The  deaths  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress 
Dowager,  on  November  14th  and  15th,  1908,  has- 
tened the  inevitable  Revolution.  The  former  had 
long  ceased  to  be  an  important  factor  in  the  nation’s 
life,  but  the  Empress  Dowager  was  a ruler  of  iron 
will  and  extraordinary  ability.  The  capture  of 
her  capital  by  the  allied  armies  in  1900  had  con- 

134 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


vinced  her  that  China’s  age-long  policy  of  isola- 
tion and  resistance  to  outside  influences  could  no 
longer  be  maintained,  and  she  had  amazed  her  sub- 
jects by  commanding  some  of  the  very  reforms 
which  she  had  punished  the  progressive  young  Em- 
peror for  encouraging  in  1898.  How  much  she 
really  desired  the  new  era  is  a disputed  question; 
but  at  any  rate  she  was  shrewd  enough  to  direct 
what  she  could  not  quell.  Her  death  therefore 
caused  considerable  uncertainty  as  to  the  future. 
Would  the  progressives  or  the  reactionaries  domi- 
nate the  new  Government? 

Many  people  questioned  whether  the  passing  of 
the  Emperor  was  due  to  natural  causes.  The  Em- 
press Dowager  had  surrounded  herself  with  high 
officials  who  were  loyal  to  her  and  whom  the  help- 
less Emperor  did  not  love.  It  was  plain  that  the 
atmosphere  of  Peking  would  not  be  conducive  to 
the  longevity  of  these  officials  if  the  Empress  Dow- 
ager’s death  were  to  leave  the  Emperor  in  a posi- 
tion to  wreak  his  vengeance  on  those  who  had 
deeply  humiliated  him.  His  health  had  long  been 
frail  and  his  death  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven,  the 
day  before  the  Empress  Dowager  became  “ A 
Guest  on  High,”  may  have  been  a normal  one. 
No  one  can  prove  that  it  was  not,  for  palace  secrets 
are  closely  guarded  in  China ; but  few  believe  that 
so  opportune  a demise  was  a mere  coincidence. 

The  successor  to  the  throne,  by  the  ante-mortem 
135 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


decree  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  was  Pu  Yi,  the 
baby  son  of  Prince  Chun,  a brother  of  the  Em- 
peror; the  Prince  himself  becoming  Prince  Regent. 
The  latter  was  a young  man  who  was  credited  with 
good  intentions.  He  had  enjoyed  a better  oppor- 
tunity than  his  predecessors  to  see  the  rest  of  the 
world;  for  he  had  been  sent  to  Germany  in  1901 
as  Imperial  Commissioner  to  apologize  for  the 
murder  of  the  German  Minister  in  Peking  in  June, 
1900.  Many  stories  became  current  about  the 
energy  and  democratic  tendencies  of  the  Prince 
Regent.  He  showed  little  evidence,  however,  of 
the  masterful  leadership  which  China  needed  at  a 
transition  period.  The  widow  of  the  late  Emperor, 
and  therefore  the  new  Empress  Dowager,  was  a 
baleful  influence  in  his  councils  as  she  was  a wom- 
an of  narrow  partisanship  and  intense  hatred  of 
the  enemies  of  her  clan.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
conciliating  the  rapidly  growing  feeling  of  the 
Chinese  that  they  ought  to  have  a larger  voice 
in  the  management  of  their  national  affairs,  the 
Prince  Regent  more  openly  concentrated  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  Manchus,  bestowing  the  highest 
positions  in  the  army,  navy  and  civil  service  upon 
his  relatives  and  friends,  some  of  whom  were  weak 
and  dissolute. 

One  of  the  Regent’s  first  acts  was  the  summary 
dismissal  of  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  then  a Grand  Coun- 
cillor of  the  Empire.  This  was  not  unexpected, 

136 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


for  reasons  which  I shall  explain  in  a later  chapter. 
But  it  deprived  China  of  the  statesman  who  was 
best  fitted  to  counsel  the  new  Government  at  this 
critical  period.  Some  relief  was  felt  when  it  was 
learned  that  his  successor  was  the  broad-minded 
head  of  the  Imperial  Chinese  Commission  which 
visited  America  in  1906,  Viceroy  Tuan  Fang.  As 
he  was  a Manchu,  it  was  supposed  that  his  official 
life  would  be  more  secure,  and  much  was  hoped 
from  his  progressive  leadership.  His  removal  in 
October,  1909,  deepened  the  anxiety  of  all  true 
friends  of  China  as  to  the  future  course  of  the  Em- 
pire. The  ostensible  reason  for  his  dismissal  was 
that  he  permitted  subordinates  to  take  photographs 
of  the  Empress  Dowager’s  funeral  procession  and 
to  fasten  telegraph  wires  upon  a few  trees  near  her 
tomb;  but  enemies  in  the  Palace  were  the  real 
reason.  What  could  be  expected  of  a Government 
which  disgraced  its  best  and  strongest  guides  at  the 
behest  of  intriguing  women  and  eunuchs? 

Another  serious  loss  was  the  death  of  the  vet- 
eran Chang  Chih-tung,  on  October  4th,  1909.  He 
also  was  a Grand  Councillor  of  the  Empire,  and 
had  long  shared  with  Yuan  Shih  Kai  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  wisest  and  ablest  of  China’s  pro- 
gressive statesmen.  It  was  an  evil  day  for  China 
when  it  was  deprived  of  such  leadership,  and  there 
was  faint  reason  for  believing  that  men  of  equal 
grade  were  likely  to  be  found. 

137 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


The  consequence  was  that,  politically,  China  fell 
into  confusion.  No  one  was  in  control.  The  local 
Governors  and  Viceroys  became  less  amenable 
than  ever  to  the  central  authority  at  Peking.  The 
younger  men  who  had  gained  a smattering  of  west- 
ern learning  were  voluble  and  headstrong.  The 
common  people  grew  more  restless.  With  all  the 
changes  that  were  taking  place  in  the  thought  and 
life  of  the  nation  as  the  result  of  the  inrush  of  new 
ideas,  it  was  a serious  thing  to  have  the  central 
Government  weakened.  Not  for  a long  time  had 
the  opportunity  for  successful  revolt  been  so  good. 

Meantime,  the  constitutional  movement  was 
sweeping  on.  October  14,  1909,  wTas  a memorable 
day  in  the  history  of  China,  for  it  signalized  the 
opening  of  the  first  of  the  Provincial  Assemblies, 
twenty-one  in  number.  All  of  the  vernacular 
papers  gave  the  event  large  space,  and  two  ap- 
peared with  their  first  pages  printed  in  vermilion 
to  commemorate  the  auspicious  occasion.  Hand- 
some modern  buildings  for  these  Assemblies  were 
erected  in  a number  of  the  provincial  capitals,  some 
of  them  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  examination 
halls. 

The  Assemblies  were  of  varying  qualities.  It 
would  not  have  been  reasonable  to  expect  that  the 
first  popular  bodies  in  an  ancient  monarchy  would 
be  characterized  by  eminent  wisdom  or  unity.  Some 
did  little  that  wTas  of  value.  Others  addressed 

138 


Ancient  Examination  Halls,  Nanking 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


themselves  seriously  to  the  task  before  them,  and 
in  many  there  were  individual  members  who 
showed  ability  and  courage.  Bold  words  were 
spoken  about  national  affairs  and  the  central  Gov- 
ernment was  rather  freely  told  what  it  ought  to 
do.  It  professed  to  welcome  the  advice,  but  it 
paid  little  attention  to  it.  The  provincial  leaders 
resented  the  neglect  of  their  recommendations,  and 
the  strain  between  the  Provinces  and  the  Imperial 
Government  was  increased. 

The  National  Assembly  had  less  freedom  than 
the  Provincial  Assemblies.  It  was  not  satisfactorily 
representative.  One  hundred  of  its  200  members 
were  indeed  to  be  nominated  by  the  Provincial  As- 
semblies, but  the  ruling  class  was  quite  as  able 
to  see  that  “ safe  ” men  were  chosen  as  the  “ boss- 
es ” in  the  United  States  are  to  control  the  election 
of  Senators.  The  other  100,  however,  were 
chosen  by  the  Imperial  Government  and  were 
made  up  of  Manchu  princes,  nobles  and  clansmen 
and  such  Chinese  officials  as  the  Court  considered 
“ trustworthy.”  Such  a body  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  disturb  u the  established  order.”  To 
make  assurance  doubly  sure,  its  powers  were  care- 
fully limited.  It  was  announced  as  “ An  Assembly 
for  the  assistance  of  the  Government,”  but  the 
Government  could  dissolve  it  at  pleasure.  Pre- 
dictions were  freely  made  that  the  Assembly  could 
do  nothing  of  value.  Even  such  a student  of  far 

139 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


eastern  affairs  as  Pierre  Leroy-Beaulieu  declared 
that  “ the  Chinese  Parliament  is  in  all  likelihood 
going  the  way  of  the  Turkish  Assembly.” 

But  the  new  spirit  of  the  nation  found  unex- 
pected expression  when  the  Assembly  convened  on 
October  3d,  1910.  Enough  of  the  members  broke 
through  the  restraints  of  the  situation  to  make  the 
session  a surprising  manifestation  of  independence 
and  energy.  Some  foolish  things  were  said  and 
done,  as  they  are  in  an  American  Congress;  but 
considering  the  circumstances,  the  Assembly,  for  a 
beginning  in  constitutional  government,  was  far 
from  a failure.  It  manifested  an  intelligence  and 
independence  which  could  hardly  have  been  ex- 
pected of  officials  meeting  under  the  very  shadow 
of  the  Imperial  Palace.  The  original  program  of 
the  Government  had  fixed  the  year  1915  as  the 
time  for  the  assembling  of  an  Imperial  Parliament. 
The  progressive  party  wished  to  have  an  earlier 
date  set.  The  reactionary  party,  which  had  vainly 
opposed  the  issuing  of  the  reform  decrees,  vehe- 
mently pressed  for  a postponement  of  “ several 
years,”  which  in  China  means  indefinitely.  But 
the  demands  of  the  National  and  Provincial  As- 
semblies became  so  resolute  that  the  Government 
was  forced  to  yield  and  an  Edict  was  issued  ad- 
vancing the  time  to  1913. 

But  whatever  the  defects  of  the  new  Assemblies, 
their  moral  influence  was  great.  The  principle  of 

140 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


representative  government  was  recognized  in  a 
sphere  where  formerly  Governors,  Viceroys  and 
the  Emperor  had  been  autocratic.  The  right  of  the 
people  to  have  a voice  in  making  laws  and  regu- 
lating government,  heretofore  limited  to  local  com- 
munities, was  now  to  be  openly  exercised  in  provin- 
cial and  national  affairs.  That  principle,  once 
established,  could  never  be  abrogated,  no  matter 
how  much  its  operation  might  be  restricted  for  a 
time. 

The  portents  of  trouble  now  multiplied  and  the 
alarm  of  the  Government  became  more  manifest. 
On  May  8th,  191 1,  an  Imperial  Edict  abolished  the 
Grand  Council  of  five  members  and  substituted  a 
constitutional  Cabinet  composed  of  the  Prime  Min- 
ister, Prince  Ching,  and  the  heads  of  the  ten  execu- 
tive departments.  Prince  Ching  issued  during  the 
summer  what  became  known  as  the  “ Too  Late  ” 
statement  of  his  policy.  This  rather  remarkable 
state  paper  included  the  following: 

With  the  revision  of  the  official  system  comes  the 
organization  of  the  Cabinet  which  is  intended  as  the 
foundation  of  a responsible  government  and  the  guide  to 
the  constitutional  preparations.  ...  It  is  gratifying  to 
note  that  the  late  Empress  Dowager  and  Emperor  were 
aware  of  the  critical  period  the  country  was  passing 
through  and  ordered  the  introduction  of  a Constitution 
as  the  only  means  to  make  the  country  strong.  Their 
wishes  are  closely  observed  by  Emperor  Hsuan  Tung. 
Heeding  the  demand  of  his  people,  he  has  also  shortened 

141 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


the  period  for  the  adoption  of  a constitutional  govern- 
ment. This  change  calls  for  hastening  efforts. 

As  the  time  of  isolation  is  substituted  by  that  of 
world  wide  intercourse,  our  conservative  policy  should  be 
substituted  by  a progressive  one.  Our  country’s  finance, 
interior  affairs,  education,  industry,  communication,  judi- 
cature, military  defence,  dependency  affairs,  international 
affairs  and  other  matters  all  demand  reform,  and  none 
can  be  neglected. 

This  was  indeed  “ too  late,”  even  if  the  decadent 
Manchu  clique  could  have  carried  out  such  a pol- 
icy, which  no  one  believes.  The  demands  of  the 
new  spirit  in  China  could  not  be  met  by  a corrupt, 
reactionary  and  inefficient  ruling  class,  which,  save 
for  an  occasional  individual  exception,  conceded 
only  what  it  was  forced  to  concede  and  could  not 
be  depended  upon  to  go  a step  further  than  fear 
drove  it.  The  time  was  ripe  for  the  long  expected 
Revolution,  and  the  events  which  have  already 
been  described  precipitated  the  inevitable  conflict. 
As  its  formidable  character  became  apparent,  the 
panic-stricken  Prince  Regent  issued  edict  after 
edict  abjectly  promising  anything  and  everything 
he  could  think  of  that  might  placate  the  wrath  of 
an  outraged  people.  Late  in  October,  he  pub- 
lished a pitiful  Edict  in  which,  true  to  the  traditions 
of  Chinese  “ face,”  the  five-year-old  Emperor  was 
represented  as  saying  that  the  troubles  of  the  Em- 
pire were  “ all  my  fault.”  This  was  an  instance 

142 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


of  “ face  ” in  which  pathos  and  grotesqueness 
were  curiously  mingled. 

The  National  Assembly  again  convened  in  Pe- 
king and  at  once  took  an  aggressive  attitude.  The 
one  hundred  princes,  nobles  and  other  Manchu  ap- 
pointees of  the  Imperial  Government,  were  so  in- 
timidated by  half  a hundred  Radicals  that  they 
hardly  dared  to  open  their  mouths  and  even  the 
Moderates  were  often  jeered  into  silence  when  they 
attempted  to  speak.  Nineteen  bases  of  a new  Con- 
stitution were  drafted  in  a single  sitting.  They 
were  considerably  more  advanced  than  the  consti- 
tutional program  which  had  been  promulgated  in 
1907,  as  they  left  the  Throne  only  the  semblance 
of  power  and  made  the  people  the  real  rulers  un- 
der a strictly  limited  constitutional  government. 
On  November  3d,  the  Prince  Regent  issued  an 
Edict  accepting  these  nineteen  bases  and  pledging 
himself  to  “ arrange  a day  to  swear  before  our 
ancestors  in  the  temple  and  to  issue  the  Constitution 
to  the  whole  Empire  on  yellow  papers.” 

Meantime,  the  tide  of  war  was  sweeping  on. 
Shanghai  was  taken  without  bloodshed  on  Novem- 
ber 3d,  thus  giving  the  Revolutionists  the  enormous 
strategic  advantage  of  access  to  the  sea  and  the 
control  of  customs’  receipts  which  assured  large 
financial  support.  Nanking,  the  ancient  Chinese 
capital,  had  to  be  fought  for,  as  it  was  held  by  a 
stubborn  Imperialist  General;  but  when  it  fell  on 

143 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


December  3d,  nothing  remained  but  a few  sporadic 
struggles  by  Imperial  Generals  who  still  com- 
manded some  troops  that  had  not  deserted,  and 
the  settlement  of  terms  with  the  Government. 

On  December  6th,  19 11,  the  Prince  Regent  suc- 
cumbed to  the  hopelessness  of  the  situation  and  re- 
signed. His  regency  of  three  years  began  in  pomp 
and  glory  and  ended  in  humiliation  and  ruin.  The 
troubles  of  his  reign  were  not  primarily  his  fault. 
He  simply  happened  to  be  in  power  when  the  long- 
gathering  storm  broke  and  he  was  not  wise  enough 
or  strong  enough  to  breast  the  tumult  successfully. 

Two  provisional  Regents,  a Manchu  and  a Chi- 
nese, were  designated,  but  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  who  had 
been  summoned  back  to  office,  became  the  real 
ruler  in  the  north.  The  Revolutionists  in  central 
China  set  up  a Republic  in  Nanking  in  December 
and  elected  Sun  Yat  Sen  President.  On  December 
29th,  he  formally  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his 
high  office.  On  February  3d,  1912,  formal  procla- 
mation was  made  that  the  official  name  of  the 
nation  was  hereafter  to  be  “ The  Great  Ching-hwa 
(Chinese)  Republic,”  the  word  “ Great  ” implying 
that  the  new  Government  claimed  Manchuria, 
Mongolia,  Tibet  and  Chinese  Turkestan.  On 
February  12th,  three  simultaneous  proclamations 
announced  the  abdication  of  the  Dynasty,  the 
Throne’s  acquiescence  in  the  Republic,  its  uncon- 
ditional acceptance  of  all  the  terms  imposed  by 

H.4 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


Yuan  Shih  Kai,  and  its  desire  that  the  Viceroys 
and  Provincial  Governors  should  loyally  conform 
to  the  new  order. 

The  end  came  with  such  startling  swiftness  as 
to  show  at  once  the  rottenness  of  the  foundations 
upon  which  Manchu  rule  rested  and  the  dig- 
nity and  orderliness  of  the  Chinese  people.  Never 
was  so  vast  a Revolution  so  quickly  and  peaceably 
consummated.  There  was  serious  fighting  at  only 
a few  places,  and  even  that  was  far  less  sanguinary 
than  sensational  newspaper  dispatches  led  the 
western  world  to  believe.  Comparatively  small 
bodies  of  troops  were  engaged.  There  were  not  as 
many  men  killed  and  wounded  in  the  entire  Revolu- 
tion as  in  any  one  of  several  battles  of  the  Amer- 
ican Civil  War  or  the  Russia-Japan  War.  In  most 
places,  the  revolutionary  sentiment  was  so  over- 
whelming that  the  Imperial  officials  yielded  with- 
out opposition.  Within  five  months  from  the  out- 
break in  Sze-chwan  and  three  months  from  the 
attack  on  Hankow,  fifteen  of  the  eighteen  Prov- 
inces had  gone  over  to  the  Revolutionists,  and  the 
tide  of  victorious  revolt  had  swept  down  the  Yang- 
tze to  the  sea.  To-day,  the  Ta-ching  Manchu 
Dynasty,  whose  haughty  Emperors  had  ruled  “ The 
Middle  Kingdom  ” as  “ Sons  of  Heaven  ” for 
nearly  three  hundred  years,  has  passed  off  the 
stage;  and  a Chinese,  whom  the  Manchus  had  con- 
temptuously sent  into  the  obscurity  of  private  life, 

145 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


now  wears  the  robes  of  power  as  President  of  the 
Great  Ching-hwa  Republic. 

The  manifestations  of  the  new  forces  which  are 
transforming  China  are  varied  in  character.  I 
have  referred  to  several  of  those  manifestations — 
political,  commercial  and  intellectual.  Let  me  now 
add  something  regarding  social  reforms,  a subject 
which  deserves  more  space  than  can  here  be  given 
to  it. 

Most  notable  of  these  reforms  is  the  anti-opium 
crusade.  The  opium  habit  has  long  been  the 
curse  of  China.  The  part  that  western  nations 
have  had  in  the  development  of  this  evil  traffic 
is  one  of  the  most  shameful  chapters  in  history. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  condemn  too  strongly  the 
unrighteous  greed  and  cruelty  which  have  charac- 
terized the  efforts  of  vicious  white  men  to  reap 
financial  profit  from  the  helplessness  of  the  Chi- 
nese people,  and  the  story  is  made  more  shameful 
by  the  acquiescence  and,  in  some  instances,  the 
open  support  of  western  governments. 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  evidences  of  the 
growth  of  the  Christian  spirit  is  the  fact  that  pub- 
lic conscience  has  now  been  aroused  to  the  enor- 
mity of  this  evil.  There  have  always  been  men 
and  women  who  have  protested  against  the  in- 
iquity of  the  traffic;  but  for  a long  time  their  pro- 
tests fell  on  deaf  ears.  The  power  of  avarice  and 
of  corrupt  politics  was  too  strong.  Now,  how- 

146 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


ever,  the  power  of  righteousness  has  waxed 
mightier.  A spirit  is  abroad  which  is  not  so  tol- 
erant of  abuses,  and  that  spirit  has  now  become 
so  pervasive  and  imperious  that  governments  have 
been  forced  to  heed  it. 

Missionaries  abroad  as  well  as  Christians  at  home 
have  had  a large  influence  in  the  development  of  this 
spirit.  As  it  was  the  missionary  who  first  stirred 
the  moral  indignation  of  the  world  over  the  traffic 
in  intoxicants  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  the  mission- 
ary who  did  more  than  all  others  combined  to 
awaken  the  conscience  of  the  world  to  the  demor- 
alization which  was  resulting  from  the  liquor  traf- 
fic in  Africa,  the  missionary  who  led  the  movement 
to  abate  the  opium  evil  in  the  Philippine  Islands, 
the  missionary  who  has  inaugurated  every  moral 
reform  in  China  for  a hundred  years,  so  it  was 
the  missionary  who  from  the  beginning  voiced  op- 
position to  the  export  of  opium  from  India  to 
China  and  who  induced  the  Government  of  China 
to  inaugurate  the  opium  reform  which  has  now 
reached  such  splendid  proportions.  The  memo- 
rial of  1,200  Protestant  missionaries,  presented 
through  a friendly  Viceroy  to  the  Throne  in  1906, 
resulted  in  the  now  famous  Imperial  Edicts  of  Sep- 
tember, 1906,  May  and  June,  1907,  and  March, 
1908. 

Those  who  know  how  often  Chinese  edicts  have 
been  simply  high-sounding  declarations  which  were 

147 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


never  carried  out  naturally  were  skeptical  about 
the  effect  of  this  one ; especially  as  it  dealt  with  the 
favorite  indulgence  of  many  millions  of  Chinese, 
as  thousands  of  the  officials  who  would  have  to  en- 
force it  locally  were  themselves  victims  of  the 
habit,  and  as  the  vice  itself,  once  fairly  established 
in  a man’s  life,  creates  pathological  conditions 
which  make  its  cure  extremely  difficult.  Great  were 
the  surprise  and  gratification,  therefore,  when 
China  set  itself  to  the  task  with  a vigor  and  success 
which  left  no  doubt  as  to  its  sincerity.  It  is  true 
that  some  officials  are  indifferent  or  hostile  to  the 
reform;  but  when  evidence  of  their  failure  to  en- 
force the  law  is  presented  in  high  quarters,  punish- 
ment is  swift  and  drastic.  On  September  27th,  1910, 
a sweeping  Edict  commanded  the  Censorate  to  in- 
vestigate and  punish  adequately  the  Viceroys  and 
Governors  of  Chih-li,  Honan,  Shen-si,  Heilung- 
kiang, Fo-kien,  Kuang-si,  Yun-nan  and  Hsin-kiang, 
“ on  the  ground  that,  while  suppressing  the  traffic 
in  and  cultivation  of  opium,  they  were  guilty  of 
carelessness  about  smoking  and  also  its  suppres- 
sion.” The  suspension  from  office  of  two  Princes 
convinced  lesser  magistrates  throughout  the  Em- 
pire that  no  mercy  would  be  shown  to  them. 

Thousands  of  acres,  which  were  formerly  de- 
voted to  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy,  now  grow 
grain  and  vegetables.  Innumerable  opium  dens 
have  been  closed.  Enormous  quantities  of  para- 

148 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


phernalia  have  been  burned,  5,000  pipes  being 
publicly  consumed  in  Hang-chou  at  one  time.  Sir 
John  Jordan,  British  Minister  to  China,  wrote  to 
his  Government  some  time  ago:  “ China  has  not 
hesitated  to  deal  with  a question  which  a European 
nation,  with  all  the  modern  machinery  of  govern- 
ment and  the  power  of  enforcing  its  decision, 
would  probably  have  been  unwilling  to  face.” 
Forty  millions  in  revenue  were  lost  on  account  of 
the  reform,  “ a far  more  serious  question,”  says 
Sir  John  Jordan,  “ in  the  present  state  of  the  Chi- 
nese national  exchequer,  than  the  similar  problem 
with  which  the  Indian  Government  will  have  to 
deal  in  sacrificing  the  opium  revenue.” 

Our  sympathies  go  out  to  the  people  of  China 
who  have  been  making  such  a determined  effort  to 
extirpate  an  evil  which  was  doing  so  much  to  weaken 
the  national  fibre  and  emasculate  the  national  char- 
acter. Never  before  in  all  the  history  of  the  world 
has  any  non-Christian  nation  conducted  so  resalute 
and  successful  a warfare  against  a vicious  indul- 
gence. It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  Chinese 
nation  has  become  thoroughly  aroused  regarding 
the  evils  of  opium  and  that  it  is  making  a magnifi- 
cent struggle  to  abate  them,  a struggle  in  which  it 
ought  to  have  all  possible  support  from  the  Chris- 
tian nations  of  the  world. 

“ The  general  awakening  of  the  country  to  the 
seriousness  of  the  opium  evil  has  been  fruitful  in 

149 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


other  directions  also.  A general  awakening  of  the 
moral  sense  seems  to  have  taken  place  and  so,  con- 
temporaneous with  the  opium  campaign,  there  has 
been  an  attack  on  another  of  the  traditional  in- 
dulgences of  the  people,  namely,  the  gambling  evil. 
In  some  Provinces,  notably  in  Kwang-tung,  the 
authorities  have  not  scrupled  to  make  this  national 
proclivity  for  games  of  chance  a source  of  income, 
and  for  many  years  licensed  gambling  houses  have 
contributed  no  small  sum  to  the  provincial  rev- 
enues. In  other  Provinces  the  same  habit  has  been 
utilized  in  other  ways,  especially  as  at  Hankow, 
in  the  shape  of  lotteries.  During  the  last  two 
years,  the  people  of  Canton,  led  by  the  younger 
officials  and  the  advanced  section  of  the  educated 
class,  have  sought  to  get  rid  of  the  gambling  evil 
and  have  chosen  as  their  first  point  of  attack  the 
licensed  houses.  The  late  Viceroy,  unable  to  find 
a source  of  revenue  to  take  the  place  of  the  threat- 
ened gambling  licenses,  temporized  and  learned 
the  truth  of  the  proverb  that  he  who  hesitates  is 
lost,  for  eventually  he  was  removed  from  office 
largely  because  of  his  attitude  on  this  question.”1 
Anti-foot-binding  societies  were  formed  years 
ago  by  missionaries  and  every  effort  was  made  to 
induce  Christian  women  not  to  bind  the  feet  of 
their  girls  and  to  unbind  those  that  had  already 
been  bound.  Many  mission  schools  will  not  re- 
1 The  National  Review,  Shanghai,  May  6,  1911. 


150 


Celebrating  the  Suppression  of  Gambling  in  Canton 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


ceive  pupils  with  bound  feet.  It  is  the  aim  of  mis- 
sionaries not  to  interfere  with  social  customs  unless 
they  are  inherently  wrong,  but  foot-binding  so 
vitally  affects  the  usefulness  and  position  of  women 
that  they  felt  justified  in  opposing  it  as  far  as 
they  could  tactfully  do  so.  They  succeeded  in  en- 
listing the  support  of  women  in  high  position  and 
finally,  through  sympathetic  and  influential  friends, 
of  the  late  Empress  Dowager.  The  Manchu  women 
did  not  bind  their  feet  and  the  custom  never  had 
the  approval  of  the  Imperial  Court,  although  the 
Manchus  manifested  no  interest  in  the  Chinese 
practice  until  the  missionaries  had  developed  con- 
siderable sentiment  on  the  subject.  In  1906,  an 
Imperial  Edict  advised  parents  not  to  bind  the 
feet  of  their  daughters.  The  movement  has  made 
rapid  headway  the  last  few  years.  Feminine  fash- 
ions are  not  easily  changed  in  any  land  and  espe- 
cially among  a conservative  people  who  have  been 
accustomed  for  centuries  to  regard  the  natural  foot 
as  evidence  of  the  lack  of  social  position.  But  it 
now  appears  probable  that  the  women  of  the  new 
China  will  ere  long  stand  and  walk  upon  their 
feet,  instead  of  hobbling  painfully  on  crushed  toes 
and  heels. 

Another  reform  of  far-reaching  significance  was 
the  reorganization  of  judicial  procedure  and  the 
penal  code.  The  Chinese  were  impelled  toward 
this  reform  not  only  by  the  new  spirit  of  the  coun- 

151 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


try  but  by  the  humiliating  fact  that  other  nations 
regarded  their  laws  and  courts  as  so  antiquated 
and  faulty  that  they  insisted  on  extra-territorial 
rights  for  all  their  nationals.  This  meant  that, 
although  a Chinese  who  committed  a crime  in  the 
United  States  was  tried  and  punished  by  an  Amer- 
ican court,  an  American  who  committed  a crime  in 
China  was  not  amenable  to  Chinese  law  and  could 
be  tried  and  punished  only  by  his  own  Consul. 
This  not  only  wounded  Chinese  pride  at  a sensi- 
tive point,  but  it  was  a prolific  source  of  irritation 
and  sometimes  of  positive  injustice  and  wrong. 
Moreover,  the  Chinese  courts  were  accustomed  to 
employ  torture  as  a means  of  extorting  confessions 
from  accused  persons,  and  to  inflict  punishment,  in 
case  of  guilt,  in  most  barbarous  forms.  The  death 
sentence  was  pronounced  upon  a large  number  of 
crimes  besides  murder.  Execution  was  frequently 
by  dismembering  the  body,  or  by  tying  the  crim- 
inal to  a stake  and  gradually  slicing  his  body  so  as 
to  prolong  his  suffering  as  much  as  possible. 
Other  forms  of  punishment  were  branding  by  red- 
hot  irons  the  face  or  the  body  and  beating  the  feet 
or  bare  back  with  bamboo  rods  until  the  flesh  was 
pounded  to  a pulp.  Jails  were  filthy  dungeons — 
dark,  cold,  unsanitary  and  vermin-infested.  Judges 
were,  as  a rule,  so  mercenary  that  the  litigant  who 
paid  the  heavier  bribe  was  practically  certain  to  get 
a verdict  in  his  favor.  It  is  no  wonder  that  western 

152 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


nations  were  not  willing  to  subject  their  nationals 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  Chinese  courts. 

On  April  24th,  1905,  an  Imperial  Edict,  issued 
in  response  to  a memorial  of  a Commission,  headed 
by  Wu  Ting-fang,  decreed  a revision  of  the  crim- 
inal code,  abolishing  “ the  three  forms  of  punish- 
ment known  as  dismemberment,  exposure  of  the 
head,  and  beheading  the  corpse,”  and  providing 
that  capital  punishment  should  be  inflicted  by 
“ immediate  decapitation,”  or  “ immediate  stran- 
gling.” The  next  day  another  Edict  forbade  the 
use  of  torture  to  secure  evidence,  commanded  due 
investigation  in  the  case  of  persons  accused  of 
crime  and  closed  with  these  interesting  words: 

Although  the  very  best  laws  may  be  enacted,  they 
cannot  execute  themselves.  What  is  required  is  that  all 
the  officials,  both  high  and  low,  shall  conscientiously  dis- 
charge their  duties  and  exert  themselves  to  get  rid  of  evil 
practices,  so  that  to  some  extent  we  may  have  a just  gov- 
ernment and  the  settlement  of  litigation  by  clear  and 
well  defined  principles,  and  thus  get  rid  of  long-standing 
abuses.  WE  constantly  hear  from  the  various  Provinces 
that  the  department  and  district  Magistrates  either  tyran- 
nically and  following  their  own  caprice  employ  torture 
in  examination  or  get  a lot  of  persons  implicated  in  a case 
and  summon  them  to  court,  but  do  not  make  prompt  in- 
vestigation, allowing  the  yamen  underlings  to  confuse  the 
case  so  that  they  may  illicitly  profit  by  it,  implicating  in- 
nocent persons  whom  they  detain  and  oppress  in  a hun- 
dred ways,  all  of  which  practices  are  most  abominable. 
Now  since  WE  have  approved  the  Regulations  submitted 

153 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


in  the  Memorial  above-mentioned,  let  them  be  published 
abroad  and  let  all  observe  them.  WE  repeat  the  an- 
nouncement and  warning  that  OUR  desire  is  to  show 
compassion  upon  all  who  are  imprisoned,  that  justice 
shall  be  shown  and  the  sentiments  of  the  people  satisfied. 
Let  all  the  Viceroys  and  Governors  concerned  issue  strict 
orders  to  their  subordinates  conscientiously  and  with  due 
regard  to  all  the  circumstances  to  exert  themselves  to 
carry  this  Edict  into  effect  and  from  time  to  time  to  make 
careful  investigation.  Should  any  be  found  who,  while 
outwardly  observing,  are  secretly  disobeying  the  Edict, 
treading  the  old  path  of  malpractice,  let  them  be  at  once 
impeached.  There  must  be  no  shielding  of  them  nor  any 
attempt  to  save  their  faces.  Let  each  be  diligent  in  seek- 
ing the  welfare  of  the  people,  and  give  earnest  attention 
to  the  settlement  of  litigation,  and  so  fulfil  the  purpose  of 
the  Throne  to  have  compassion  upon  the  lowly  and  to 
lighten  their  punishments.  Let  this  Edict  be  published 
for  the  information  of  all. 

The  queue  has  long  been  the  national  badge  of 
the  Chinese.  It  was  not  the  queue  but  the  shaving 
of  the  head  that  was  enforced  by  the  Manchu  con- 
querors. The  early  Chinese  wore  their  hair  long 
and  tied  it  in  a top-knot,  as  the  Koreans  have  done 
until  recently.  The  queue  and  the  shaven  head 
became  universal  after  the  Manchu  conquest  in 
1644,  and  as  late  as  a half-dozen  years  ago  a Chi- 
nese could  not  have  cut  off  his  queue  without  im- 
mediately losing  caste.  Chinese  in  other  lands  fre- 
quently cut  off  their  queues,  but  were  careful  to 
grow  them  when  they  went  back  to  China.  Gradu- 

154 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM 


ally  many  Chinese  became  sensitive  to  the  ridicule 
to  which  the  practice  exposed  them,  and  gradually 
also  they  came  to  regard  the  queue  as  unsanitary 
and  inconvenient.  In  1909,  some  men  in  high  of- 
ficial position  ventured  to  memorialize  the  Prince 
Regent  on  the  subject;  but  he  feared  that  the  na- 
tion was  hardly  ready  for  such  a drastic  measure 
and  he  rejected  the  proposal. 

When  the  Revolution  broke  out,  the  queue  was 
one  of  the  first  of  the  old  customs  to  be  discarded. 
Practically  all  of  the  Revolutionists  cut  off  their 
queues,  so  that  when  Imperialist  troops  captured 
a city  they  killed  every  man  they  found  without 
a queue.  The  triumph  of  the  Revolution  prob- 
ably means  the  end  of  the  custom.  Yuan  Shih  Kai 
continued  to  wear  his  queue,  out  of  respect  to  the 
Imperial  family,  until  the  abdication,  but  one  of 
his  first  acts  after  that  was  to  have  his  own  queue 
removed.  To-day,  thousands  of  Chinese  barbers 
all  over  the  country  are  doing  a rushing  business, 
and  vast  quantities  of  Chinese  hair  are  being  ex- 
ported to  be  made  into  rats  and  switches  for  Euro- 
pean and  American  ladies. 

It  would  be  interesting,  if  space  permitted,  to 
discuss  other  Edicts,  as  for  example  the  one  of  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1910,  against  domestic  slavery.  But 
perhaps  those  that  have  been  cited  may  serve  for 
illustrations  of  the  spirit  of  reform  that  is  at  work. 
Edicts  in  China  are  not  always  enforced,  but 

155 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


surely  there  is  large  significance  in  the  fact  that 
such  decrees  as  these  and  others  that  might  be 
cited  have  been  issued  within  recent  years.  Some 
American  laws  are  dead  letters,  and  while  a larger 
proportion  of  Chinese  Edicts  have  had  little  effect, 
some  of  them,  as  in  the  case  of  the  opium  Edicts, 
have  been  carried  out  with  a zeal  and  efficiency 
which  Americans  might  well  wish  their  Gov- 
ernment would  apply  to  the  liquor  traffic.  If 
Edicts  of  this  kind  had  emanated  from  a govern- 
ment in  whose  honesty  and  efficiency  the  people 
had  confidence,  the  Revolution  might  have  as- 
sumed a different  character. 


1 56 


CHAPTER  VII 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA YUAN  SHIH  KAI 

SUN  YAT  SEN 

China’s  most  serious  lack  for  a period  of  transi- 
tion and  reconstruction  was  generally  believed  to 
be  the  lack  of  competent  leadership.  Numerous 
magazine  articles  lamented  this  as  the  most  hope- 
less element  in  the  situation.  “ There  are  no 
statesmen  capable  of  guiding  the  country;  good 
will  there  is  in  plenty,  but  one  sees  nowhere  the 
necessary  combination  of  insight,  ability,  experi- 
ence and  influence.”  These  words  of  an  eminent 
writer  on  Far  Eastern  affairs  represented  the  com- 
mon opinion  of  the  civilized  world.  But  great 
emergencies  have  developed  great  men  in  China 
as  they* have  in  other  countries.  Some  of  the  lead- 
ers of  the  new  China  had  already  won  fame  under 
the  old  regime,  others  suddenly  rose  from  obscur- 
ity, and  they  proved  that  the  widely  accepted  view 
of  China’s  lack  of  capable  men  was  unfounded. 

I regret  that  the  limits  of  this  little  book  do  not 
permit  adequate  sketches  of  such  men  as  Liang 
Tun  Yen,  a graduate  of  Yale  University  who  has 
been  Vice-President  and  President  of  the  Wai-wu 
Pu,  Customs  Tao-tai  at  Hankow  and  Tien-tsin, 

157 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


Minister  to  the  United  States,  Mexico,  Cuba  and 
Peru,  and  Director-General  of  Customs;  Tang 
Shao  Yi,  who  has  been  President  of  the  Ministry 
of  Posts  and  Communications,  Customs  Tao-tai  at 
Tien-tsin,  Vice-President  of  the  Wai-wu  Pu,  Com- 
missioner for  the  revision  of  the  Tibetan  Treaty, 
Governor  of  Feng-tien  and  special  Ambassador  to 
the  United  States;  Chentung  Liang-cheng,  who  has 
been  Minister  to  Germany,  the  United  States, 
Spain,  Peru,  Cuba  and  Mexico;  Lew  Yuk  Lin, 
who  has  been  Minister  to  Great  Britain,  Consul- 
General  at  Johannesburg  and  Singapore,  and  Dep- 
uty Vice-President  of  the  Wai-wu  Pu;  Wu  Ting- 
fang,  educated  at  Oxford  University,  who  was 
twice  Minister  to  the  United  States;  General 
Ts’en,  son  of  the  famous  general  of  that  name 
who  quelled  the  Mohammedan  Revolution,  who 
was  Viceroy  of  Sze-chwan  in  190 1-2,  where  he 
showed  special  kindness  to  missionaries;  General 
Li  Yuan  Heng,  commander  of  the  revolutionary 
army  at  Hankow;  Wang  Chong  Wei  and  his  two 
brothers;  C.  T.  Wang,  and  several  others  who 
might  be  mentioned  if  space  permitted.  But  we 
must  look  more  particularly  to  the  two  outstand- 
ing Chinese  of  the  Revolution  period,  Yuan  Shih 
Kai  and  Sun  Yat  Sen. 

Yuan  Shih  Kai  had  long  been  one  of  the  most 
powerful  officials  of  the  Empire  and  he  is  un- 
doubtedly the  ablest  living  Chinese.  Bom  in  1858 

158 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


in  the  Province  of  Honan,  he  quickly  developed 
unusual  abilities.  He  early  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  great  Viceroy  Li  Hung  Chang,  who  in  1884 
caused  him  to  be  sent  to  Korea  as  Resident  Envoy. 
Although  only  twenty-six  years  old,  his  force  of 
character  soon  made  him  a power  in  that  stormy 
capital,  and  for  nine  years  he  was  a conspicuous 
member  of  its  diplomatic  corps.  He  has  been 
charged  with  arrogance  and  arbitrariness  in  this 
position,  and  it  has  been  said  that  his  course  pre- 
cipitated the  China-Japan  War  which  resulted  so 
disastrously  for  China.  But  on  his  return  to  China 
in  1893,  he  was  made  commander  of  a division 
of  the  “ New  Imperial  Army  ” at  Tien-tsin,  a post 
in  which  he  manifested  high  military  and  admin- 
istrative qualities.  He  organized  and  equipped 
his  troops  on  the  best  foreign  models  and  they 
speedily  became  an  effective  modern  force.  In 
1894,  he  was  Chief  of  the  Military  Secretariat  in 
Manchuria,  in  1895  Civil  Commandant  of  the 
German  drilled  forces  and  Director-General  of 
Trade  and  International  Relations,  in  1897  Ju- 
dicial Commissioner  of  the  Imperial  Province  of 
Chih-li,  in  1899  Junior  Vice-President  of  the 
Board  of  Works,  in  December  of  the  same  year 
Acting  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Shantung,  and 
in  March,  1900,  he  was  confirmed  as  Governor  of 
that  great  Province.  Here  his  capacity  for  admin- 
istration had  large  scope.  “ He  had  assumed 

159 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


charge  at  a time  when  chaos  and  disorder  through- 
out the  Province  were  most  prevalent.  His  very 
first  struggle  was  made  in  opposition  to  the  numer- 
ous banks  which  sprang  up  like  mushrooms  during 
the  regime  of  the  Provisional  Government.  These 
were  organized  in  most  cases  without  capital,  busi- 
ness being  done  on  the  deposits  and  on  promises 
to  pay.  Foreseeing  that  serious  results  must  fol- 
low, His  Excellency  took  these  banks  in  hand, 
suppressed  their  indiscriminate  issue  of  notes,  regu- 
lated their  credit  systems,  and  for  a time  ruled, 
necessarily,  with  a rod  of  iron.  Naturally,  resist- 
ance resulted  and  dire  ruin  and  financial  disaster 
seemed  most  imminent.  Gradually,  however,  the 
wreaker  banks  failed,  or  were  crushed  out  of  ex- 
istence, while  the  stronger  were  forced  to  adopt 
honest  methods,  and  the  honor  and  credit  of  the 
city  were  saved.  Thieves  and  plunderers  had  or- 
ganized systematically  and  were  busily  engaged  in 
committing  crimes  of  every  conceivable  nature.  To 
combat  these,  His  Excellency  organized  a police 
force,  and  the  villains  were  arrested,  imprisoned 
and,  in  aggravated  cases,  beheaded.  In  a very 
short  time,  order  was  brought  out  of  chaos,  peace 
and  confidence  were  restored  throughout  the  Prov- 
ince, and  the  wheels  of  progress  set  in  motion  and 
the  interests  of  all  the  people  were  conserved.”  1 

1 Report  of  the  American  Consul-General  at  Tien-tsin  to  the  State 
Department,  October  26,  1907. 

l60 


i.  Setting  Chinese  type 


2.  Setting  English  type 

Composing  Room  of  a Mission  Press,  Shanghai 


t 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


I met  him  in  Tsinan- fu,  his  capital,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1901.  I had  sent  my  card  and  letters  of  in- 
troduction, and  he  had  promptly  set  a time  for  my 
call.  With  true  courtesy,  he  met  us  at  the  entrance 
of  the  palace  grounds  and  led  us  into  his  private 
office.  He  impressed  me  at  once  as  a remarkable 
man.  He  was  then  forty-two  years  of  age,  of 
medium  height,  rather  stout,  with  a strong  face, 
a clear  frank  eye,  and  a most  engaging  manner. 
He  would  be  considered  a man  of  striking  appear- 
ance anywhere.  He  was  very  cordial  and  we  had 
a long  and  interesting  conversation  which  was  car- 
ried on  through  his  Chinese  interpreter,  who,  by 
the  way,  had  spent  two  years  in  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, New  York.  He  surprised  me  by  his  familiar- 
ity with  America,  especially  as  he  spoke  no  Eng- 
lish and  had  never  been  out  of  Asia.  He  discussed 
plans  that  he  had  made  to  start  a daily  newspaper, 
a military  academy  and  a literary  college.  His 
idea  was  to  have  in  each  institution  two  students 
from  each  of  the  108  counties  in  the  Province,  and 
thus  to  train  a body  of  men  who  wTould  be  able  to 
carry  “ light  and  learning  ” into  their  respective 
districts.  He  appeared  to  be  desirous  of  doing 
everything  in  his  power  to  enlighten  the  38,000,- 
000  people  whom  he  ruled.  In  answer  to  a ques- 
tion as  to  the  teaching  of  foreign  languages,  he 
said  that  English,  French  and  German  would  be 
taught,  but  that  German  would  probably  be  the 

161 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


most  useful  of  the  foreign  tongues  on  account  of 
the  number  of  Germans  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Province. 

The  policy  of  Yuan  Shih  Kai  during  the  Boxer 
troubles  indicated  the  wisdom  and  courage  of  the 
man.  Disturbances  had  already  begun  when  he 
assumed  office.  It  was  not  far  southwest  of  Tsinan- 
fu  that  Mr.  Brooks,  the  English  missionary,  was 
murdered  by  the  Boxers.  Yu  Hsien  was  then 
Governor  of  Shantung,  but  shortly  afterward  was 
transferred  to  Shan-si,  Yuan  Shih  Kai  taking  his 
place.  If  the  notorious,  foreign-hating  Yu  Hsien 
had  remained  in  Shantung,  he  would  probably  have 
massacred  the  missionaries  there  as  he  did  those 
of  Shan-si,  where  he  invited  them  all  to  his  yamen 
and  then  began  the  butchery  by  killing  three  mis- 
sionaries with  his  own  hand.  But  Yuan  Shih  Kai 
foresaw  the  inevitable  result  of  such  barbarity,  and 
determined  to  restrain  the  Boxers  and  protect 
the  foreigners.  He  succeeded  in  the  latter,  not 
one  foreigner  being  killed  after  he  took  control 
and  all  being  helped  as  far  as  possible  to  escape. 

This  apparently  pro-foreign  policy  brought  up- 
on the  Governor  the  displeasure  of  the  Empress 
Dowager,  who  was  then  encouraging  the  Boxers 
and  upon  whom  his  position  and  his  hopes  of  future 
preferment  appeared  to  depend.  He  was  the  ob- 
ject too,  of  no  small  obloquy  from  the  fiercely 
fanatical  conservatives  who  wanted  to  murder 

162 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


every  foreigner  within  reach.  Indeed  the  fury  of 
the  populace  was  so  great  that  he  was  bitterly 
reviled  as  a “ secondary  devil  ” and  his  life  was 
repeatedly  threatened.  But  despite  the  clamor  of 
the  mob,  the  opposition  of  his  associates  in  the 
government  of  the  Province,  and  the  displeasure  of 
the  all-powerful  Empress  Dowager,  he  maintained 
his  position  with  stern  inflexibility.  On  one  occa- 
sion, a deputation  of  prominent  Boxers  waited  up- 
on him,  told  him  of  the  rising  tide  of  anti-foreign 
feeling,  and  urged  him  to  place  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  movement  and  free  his  country  once  for  all 
from  the  obnoxious  western  influences.  Yuan  Shih 
Kai  was  too  intelligent  to  imagine  that  foreigners 
could  be  permanently  driven  out  of  China.  He 
knew  that  the  day  for  that  had  passed,  and  he  told 
his  callers  of  the  certain  defeat  that  awaited  them. 
They  replied  that  victory  was  absolutely  sure  be- 
cause the  Boxer  warriors  were  protected  by  magic 
which  made  them  immune  from  the  foreigners’ 
bullets.  He  grimly  responded  that  his  soldiers  had 
some  of  those  bullets  and  he  suggested  that  the 
deputation  give  him  an  exhibition  of  their  im- 
munity in  their  own  persons.  They  demurred,  but 
he  was  inexorable,  and  after  he  had  hospitably  en- 
tertained them  at  a feast,  he  commanded  them  to 
line  up  against  the  wall  of  the  palace  enclosure,  and 
then,  deaf  to  their  frightened  appeals,  had  a firing 
squad  shoot  them  down  to  a man.  That  ended  the 

163 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


Boxer  Uprising  in  Shantung  and  prevented  its 
spread  southward.  Afterwards,  the  people  real- 
ized that  their  iron  Governor  had  saved  them  from 
the  awful  punishment  that  wTas  inflicted  upon  the 
neighboring  Province  of  Chih-li,  and  his  power  and 
prestige  became  greater  than  ever. 

In  November,  1901,  he  was  elevated  to  the  Vice- 
royalty of  Chih-li.  As  Chih-li  is  not  only  one  of 
the  greatest  Provinces  of  the  Empire,  but  includes 
the  Imperial  city  of  Peking,  and  the  ports  of  Tong- 
ku  and  Tien-tsin,  the  gateways  to  the  capital,  its 
Viceroy  controlled  the  avenues  of  approach  to  the 
Throne  and  was  charged  with  the  protection  of  the 
Royal  Family.  Here  he  had  free  access  to  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  Dowager.  It  was  this  po- 
sition of  high  vantage  which  enabled  Li  Hung 
Chang  to  become  well-nigh  omnipotent  in  China. 
Yuan  Shih  Kai  is  not  such  a wily  schemer  as  his 
distinguished  predecessor  was  and  he  did  not  use 
his  position  to  amass  such  a huge  personal  fortune 
as  Li  Hung  Chang  accumulated.  But  he  is  quite 
as  able  a man  and  more  frank  and  reliable.  He 
made  a profound  impression  upon  the  Empress 
Dowager,  who  was  a keen  judge  of  men  and  who 
so  quickly  forgave  him  for  his  course  in  the  Boxer 
troubles  that,  on  her  return  to  Peking,  he  was  made 
Junior  Guardian  of  the  Heir  Apparent  and  given 
the  high  honor  of  the  Yellow  Jacket.  In  1902,  he 
wTas  made  Administrator-General  of  the  North 

164 


LEADERS  OP  THE  NEW  CHINA 


China  Railways,  then  consulting  member  of  the 
Reform  Council  and  Army  Organization  Council, 
Junior  President  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army,  and  finally 
Grand  Councillor  of  the  Empire.  Surely  few  liv- 
ing men  have  had  a more  varied  experience  in  ad- 
ministrative public  positions. 

Yuan  Shih  Kai,  while  not  an  extremist,  is  a 
progressive  Chinese  fully  recognizing  the  necessity 
of  adopting  modern  methods.  He  it  was  who  had 
his  soldiers  throw  away  their  bows  and  arrows, 
engaged  German  army  officers,  and  gave  China  a 
small  but  effective  army,  provided  with  modern 
rifles  and  disciplined  as  no  Chinese  troops  had  ever 
been  before.  He  built  well-equipped  hospitals  for 
them  and  enforced  the  most  approved  sanitary 
measures.  He  was  a leader  not  only  in  the  new 
military  science  but  in  education,  founding  schools 
and  making  broad  plans  for  the  diffusion  of  intelli- 
gence among  the  people. 

When  in  1904,  there  was  an  attempt  to  revive 
the  Boxer  movement,  Yuan  Shih  Kai  promptly  is- 
sued a proclamation  beginning  with  these  peremp- 
tory words:  “ Anyone  creating  wild  rumors  calcu- 
lated to  alarm  or  produce  doubt  in  the  people’s 
mind  will  be  beheaded ! Anyone  teaching  or  learn- 
ing mystic  practices,  like  Boxer  measures  and  red- 
lantern  doctrines,  will  be  beheaded!  ” That  proc- 
lamation of  the  iron  Viceroy  dampened  the  ardor 

165, 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


of  the  anti-foreign  agitators,  for  they  had  no  liking 
for  the  fate  of  the  Boxer  leaders  of  Shantung 
under  his  Governorship. 

The  American  Consul  General  at  Tien-tsin,  in 
his  report  to  the  State  Department,  October  26, 
1907,  from  which  I have  already  quoted,  also  said: 
44  Of  the  many  acts  of  progress  accomplished  by 
His  Excellency  only  a few  are  herein  mentioned, 
viz.:  simplified  language  in  Chinese  schools;  the 
establishment  of  a self-government  office;  the  es- 
tablishment of  a preparatory  civil  school;  schools 
for  the  training  of  the  officials ; the  introduction  of 
constitutional  government;  the  establishment  of  a 
civil  normal  school  for  teachers;  the  organization 
of  savings  banks  for  the  people ; the  establishment 
of  a school  of  politics  and  law;  a system  of  com- 
petitive examination  of  applicants  for  the  customs 
service ; a school  for  the  study  and  discussion  of  all 
affairs  in  connection  with  the  adoption  of  the  pro- 
posed constitutional  and  parliamentary  government 
for  China;  a form  of  civil  government  for  the 
city  of  Tien-tsin;  a system  of  election  of  officials 
for  the  city,  the  first  and  only  popular  election  ever 
held  in  China  being  that  of  July  24,  1907.  In 
addition,  we  might  mention  that  mints  have  been 
established  for  the  coinage  of  copper,  silver  and 
gold  coins;  military  and  normal  schools  have  also 
been  built;  and,  in  addition,  large  buildings  for 
reform,  industrial,  and  training  schools  have  been 

166 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


built,  as  well  as  cotton  and  paper  mills,  all  of  these 
institutions  being  in  good  working  order.  Fine 
buildings,  macadamized  roads,  and  splendid  steel 
and  iron  bridges  have  been  constructed,  and  steam 
rollers  are  to  be  seen  daily  at  work  on  streets  in 
the  native  city.  A splendid  sanitary  department 
has  been  organized,  and,  under  its  guiding  hand, 
the  health  of  the  native  city  has  been  very  ma- 
terially improved.  He  has  established  the  best  of 
relations  with  the  foreigners,  and  by  sturdy,  honest 
efforts  has  won  the  good  will  of  the  natives  as 
well.  He  is  far-seeing  and  his  advice  has  been  con- 
stantly sought  by  the  Government  at  Peking,  the 
best  Edicts  being  the  result  of  his  suggestions, 
notably  the  promised  efforts  towards  constitutional 
government  and  the  suppression  of  the  opium 
traffic.” 

He  is  a Confucianist;  but  he  showed  the  breadth 
of  his  intelligence  and  his  appreciation  of  the  high 
character  of  Protestant  missionaries  by  selecting, 
in  1898,  a Presbyterian  minister,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Herbert  E.  House,  as  the  tutor  of  his  son,  Yuan 
Yen  Tai,  and  in  1900,  by  inviting  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Watson  M.  Hayes,  then  President  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Mission  College  at  Teng-chou,  to  become 
President  of  the  Literary  College  which  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  had  established  at  Tsinan-fu.  His  opinion 
of  idols  was  indicated  in  1906,  when  during  a visit 
to  Paoting-fu,  he  told  the  elders  of  the  Tu-ti 

167 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


temples  to  the  local  divinities,  where  report  is  al- 
ways made  of  the  death  of  any  individual  in  that 
district,  that  he  wanted  the  temples  for  police 
stations,  and  he  had  all  the  idols  gathered  up,  and 
thrown  into  the  river.  The  missionaries  went  to 
see  how  the  people  would  take  the  order,  and 
found  thousands  lining  the  river  banks  and  laugh- 
ing over  it  as  a great  joke,  saying,  “ The  gods  are 
getting  a bath.” 

He  has  had  many  enemies,  as  every  strong  man 
has,  especially  in  Asia.  He  had  added  the  late 
Emperor  to  this  list  in  connection  with  the  Coup 
d’Etat  of  1898.  The  Emperor  counted  on  Yuan 
Shih  Kai,  then  forty  years  of  age  and  Judicial 
Commissioner  of  Chih-li,  to  support  his  reform 
policies.  He  summoned  him  to  private  audiences, 
revealed  his  plans,  explained  that  Jung  Lu,  then 
the  powerful  Manchu  Viceroy  of  Chih-li,  was  the 
chief  obstacle  to  his  efforts,  assigned  to  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  a high  command  in  the  army,  and  ordered 
him  to  proceed  at  once  to  Tien-tsin,  put  Jung  Lu 
to  death,  and  at  the  head  of  his  troops  march  to 
Peking  and  imprison  the  Empress  Dowager. 
Yuan  Shih  Kai  was  a personal  friend  of  Jung  Lu, 
but  he  received  these  instructions  with  apparent 
humility  and  obedience  and  hurried  to  Tien-tsin. 
But  instead  of  decapitating  Jung  Lu,  he  told  him 
of  his  orders  and  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  save 
himself.  Jung  Lu  sped  to  Peking  on  a special 

168 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


train  and  revealed  the  plot  to  the  Empress  Dow- 
ager, who  had  been  his  warm  friend  for  many 
years  and,  it  was  generally  believed,  something 
more  than  a friend.  She  acted  with  characteristic 
vigor.  Trusty  soldiers  were  summoned  to  relieve 
the  Emperor’s  guards;  the  Palace  was  secretly  sur- 
rounded; and  the  next  morning  the  Emperor  was 
seized,  locked  up  in  a palace  on  an  island  in  the 
small  lake  within  the  royal  enclosure,  and  an  Im- 
perial Edict  announced  that  the  Emperor  “ had 
besought  Her  Majesty  to  condescend  once  more  to 
administer  the  Government.”  The  Emperor  re- 
mained a virtual  prisoner  of  State  until  his  death 
in  1908.  The  last  night  of  his  life,  he  painfully 
wrote  a message  which  included  these  words : “For 
our  misery  of  the  last  ten  years  Yuan  Shih  Kai  is 
responsible. — When  the  time  comes,  I desire  that 
Yuan  be  summarily  beheaded.” 

Yuan  has  been  bitterly  arraigned  for  treachery 
to  the  Emperor  in  this  affair.  His  friends  hold 
that  he  did  not  intend  treachery  but  only  consulta- 
tion with  his  superior  officer  as  to  what  ought  to  be 
done  in  a grave  crisis  where  the  carrying  out  of  the 
Imperial  command  would  have  resulted  in  certain 
disaster  to  the  country.  Yuan  was  far  from  being 
a reactionary,  but  he  was  wise  enough  to  see  that 
the  weak  and  impulsive  Emperor  could  not  sud- 
denly transform  China  in  that  way,  and  he  natu- 
rally hesitated  to  lend  himself  to  an  enterprise 

169 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


which  he  believed  to  be  premature  and  to  be 
destined  to  certain  failure.  The  soundness  of  his 
judgment  is  now  generally  recognized,  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  his  loyalty  to  the  Emperor. 

When,  in  1908,  the  death  of  the  Emperor  and 
the  Empress  Dowager  brought  to  the  Throne  the 
infant  son  of  the  brother  of  the  late  Emperor,  and 
the  brother  became  Prince  Regent  and  the  widow 
Empress  Dowager,  it  was  a foregone  conclusion 
that  Yuan  Shih  Kai’s  official  career  would  come  to 
an  abrupt  end.  The  embittered  Prince  Regent  and 
Empress  Dowager  would  have  beheaded  him  if 
they  had  dared;  but  Yuan  Shih  Kai  was  too  power- 
ful to  be  dealt  with  in  that  way,  and  the  Ministers 
of  several  European  Powers  intimated  that  such 
a punishment  would  create  an  impression  that 
would  be  “ highly  unfavorable  ” to  the  administra- 
tion. The  Prince  Regent  was  therefore  forced  to 
content  himself  with  removing  Yuan  Shih  Kai 
from  office.  He  did  this  in  accordance  with  the 
most  exquisite  traditions  of  Oriental  “ face.”  The 
order  expressed  the  profound  solicitude  of  the 
Prince  Regent  that  so  valued  and  distinguished  an 
official  was  grievously  suffering  from  rheumatism 
in  his  leg,  and  that  heavy  as  was  the  sorrow  of  the 
Throne  and  the  loss  to  the  State,  common  sym- 
pathy and  humanity  required  that  Yuan  Shih  Kai 
should  be  relieved  from  the  onerous  burdens  that 
he  was  bearing  and  be  permitted  to  seek  the  rest 

170 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


that  his  malady  imperatively  required.  Yuan  Shih 
Kai,  who  was  in  perfect  health,  at  once  retired  to 
his  private  estate  near  Shunte-fu,  where  he  lived 
quietly  as  a private  citizen.  This  was  in  1908. 
When  I was  in  Peking  a year  later,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
W.  A.  P.  Martin,  who  was  close  to  the  family,  told 
me  that  neither  Yuan  Shih  Kai  nor  his  son  had 
any  expectation  that  he  would  be  restored  to  office 
as  long  as  the  Prince  Regent  and  the  Empress 
Dowager  were  in  power,  and  their  overthrow  did 
not  appear  to  be  imminent  at  that  time.  It  was  a 
sudden  fall,  and  from  the  highest  position  which 
a subject  could  attain,  for  Yuan  Shih  Kai  was 
Grand  Councillor  when  he  was  dismissed.  Cardinal 
Wolsey  did  not  fall  farther  or  more  suddenly.  It 
looked  like  the  disastrous  ending  of  a great  career, 
and  that  too,  in  the  prime  of  life.  Yuan  Shih  Kai 
bore  himself  in  misfortune  with  the  dignity  of  a 
noble  soul.  His  power  and  prestige  were  so  great 
that  he  could  probably  have  overthrown  the  Prince 
Regent  if  he  had  been  disposed  to  disobey  the 
command  to  retire  from  office.  The  best  soldiers 
in  the  Empire  had  been  raised  and  disciplined  by 
him  and  he  was  popular  with  Chinese  and  foreign- 
ers alike.  Western  nations  would  doubtless  have 
supported  him  if  he  treated  the  Prince  Regent  as 
the  former  Empress  Dowager  had  treated  the  late 
Emperor  in  the  Coup  d’Etat  of  1898.  But  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  was  a wise  and  patriotic  as  well  as 

171 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


resolute  man  and  he  was  unwilling  that  revolution 
should  be  precipitated  on  his  personal  account. 

He  had  his  revenge  in  full  measure.  When  the 
Throne  began  to  totter,  the  frightened  Prince 
Regent  and  Empress  Dowager  were  forced  to  yield 
to  the  overwhelming  general  opinion  that  the 
Manchu  Dynasty  was  doomed  unless  Yuan  Shih 
Kai  could  be  persuaded  to  save  it,  and  they  ab- 
jectly besought  him  to  come  to  their  relief.  He 
showed  that  he  was  not  destitute  of  a sense  of 
humor  by  respectfully  replying  that  he  was  deeply 
sensible  of  the  honor  that  was  shown  him,  and  that 
his  humble  services  were  always  at  the  disposal  of 
his  country,  but  that  unhappily  the  rheumatism  in 
his  leg  still  incapacitated  him  from  active  duty! 
He  waited  for  several  months  before  giving  a final 
acceptance,  every  day  making  clearer  that  he  alone 
was  the  man  for  the  crisis.  It  is  probable  that  he 
was  all  the  time  in  secret  correspondence  with  the 
Generals  of  the  Revolution  and  that  he  was  using 
his  influence  with  them  to  save  his  country  from 
prolonged  internecine  strife.  Indeed  when  the  se- 
cret history  of  the  Revolution  shall  become  known, 
it  may  be  found  that  Yuan  Shih  Kai  had,  from  the 
beginning,  a larger  relation  to  the  whole  move- 
ment than  is  commonly  supposed;  although  he  may 
not  have  approved  of  all  that  the  southern  leaders 
did. 

When  at  last  he  emerged  from  retirement  and 
172 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


entered  Peking  in  state,  he  immediately  became  the 
object  of  universal  attention  and  the  virtual  dictator 
of  the  Empire.  Foreigners  openly  expressed  their 
relief  that  he  was  again  at  the  helm.  Punch  has 
suggested  that  all  foreigners  in  China  believe  that 
Yuan  is  the  man  of  the  hour  because  his  is  the  only 
Chinese  name  that  they  can  pronounce ; but  he  is  a 
masterful  leader  who  inspires  confidence  in  all  who 
know  him. 

His  position  was  one  of  extraordinary  difficulty 
and  he  manifested  qualities  quite  as  extraordinary. 
He  stood  between  the  Imperialists  and  the  Revolu- 
tionists, trying  to  moderate  the  demands  of  both 
and  to  guide  affairs  to  a peaceable  conclusion.  It 
was  clear  that  the  Chinese  were  henceforth  to  gov- 
ern themselves,  but  there  was  dispute  whether  they 
should  do  so  under  the  forms  of  a republic  after  the 
American  model,  or  of  a limited  constitutional 
monarchy  after  the  British  model.  The  Revolu- 
tionists insisted  upon  the  former.  Yuan  Shih  Kai, 
in  common  with  most  of  the  foreign  friends  of 
China,  doubted  whether  it  was  prudent  to  break  so 
suddenly  with  immemorial  monarchical  traditions, 
and  whether  the  masses  of  the  Chinese  people  had 
yet  acquired  sufficient  education  and  developed 
adequate  national  consciousness  and  unity  to  afford 
stable  basis  for  a republican  form  of  government. 
A limited  constitutional  monarchy,  with  an  elected 
parliament  and  a cabinet  and  prime  minister  re- 

173 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


sponsible  to  it,  would,  he  believed,  best  conserve 
the  common  interest  and  lessen  the  danger  of  civil 
wars  and  foreign  intervention. 

The  Republicans  would  not  have  it  this  way  and 
became  vehement  in  their  demands.  When  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  would  not  yield,  they  proceeded  to  set 
up  a Republic  without  him,  established  their  capital 
at  Nanking,  and  elected  Sun  Yat  Sen  President. 
It  appeared  for  a time  as  if  the  Chinese  had  over- 
thrown the  Manchus  only  to  fight  among  them- 
selves, or  else  to  split  the  country  into  two  rival 
nations — a northern  kingdom  and  a southern 
republic.  If  Yuan  Shih  Kai  could  have  negotiated 
a foreign  loan  to  equip  and  maintain  an  army,  he 
might  have  fought  it  out.  A syndicate  of  foreign 
bankers  was  reported  to  be  ready  to  lend  him 
money,  but  Great  Britain  objected.  Her  interests 
were  in  central  and  southern  China  where  the 
Revolutionists  were  in  full  control,  and  she  had  no 
mind  to  bring  their  wrath  upon  her  by  helping  to 
finance  their  enemies.  Moreover,  the  Revolution- 
ists announced  that,  while  they  would  respect  all 
foreign  treaties  and  obligations  which  had  been  in 
existence  prior  to  the  proclamation  of  the  Republic, 
they  would  repudiate  any  that  were  made  after  that 
date.  Yuan  Shih  Kai  compelled  the  rich  Manchu 
princes  to  disgorge  some  of  their  ill-gotten  wealth ; 
but  though  this  gave  him  several  millions,  it  did 
not  furnish  enough  for  a successful  war.  Perhaps 

174 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


there  was  a better  secret  understanding  between 
Yuan  Shih  Kai  and  the  Republicans  than  appeared 
on  the  surface,  and  perhaps  he  used  the  ostensible 
demands  of  the  Republicans  as  a club  to  bring 
the  Manchus  into  submission.  At  any  rate,  the 
Republicans  were  inexorable,  and  it  soon  became 
clear  that  the  bulk  of  the  nation  was  with  them. 
They  recognized  and  admired  Yuan  Shih  Kai’s 
ability  and  prestige  and  declared  their  readiness  to 
receive  him  as  President  of  a republic,  but  not  as 
Prime  Minister  of  a Manchu  Emperor,  even 
though  the  latter  had  only  the  shadow  of  a throne. 

Here  again  Yuan  Shih  Kai  showed  that  he  pos- 
sessed wisdom,  forbearance  and  patience  as  well  as 
ability  and  force.  He  might  now  have  deposed 
and  expelled  the  Manchu  rulers.  But  he  knew 
that  this  would  make  them  bitter  enemies,  that  they 
might  retire  to  Mongolia  and  enter  into  alliance 
with  Russia,  or  to  Manchuria  and  enter  into  alli- 
ance with  Japan,  and,  in  either  case,  make  serious 
trouble  for  the  new  Government  and  perhaps  keep 
up  a struggle  which  might  end  in  foreign  interven- 
tion. So  he  bent  all  his  tact  and  skill  to  persuade 
the  Manchus  peaceably  and  voluntarily  to  abdicate. 
It  was  a long  and  wearisome  task.  Some  of  the 
princes  and  dukes  thought  it  better  to  yield  than 
to  run  the  risk  of  expulsion  and  ruin;  but  others 
stubbornly  held  on.  There  were  stormy  confer- 
ences within  the  precincts  of  the  Forbidden  City. 

175 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


The  Empress  Dowager  wept  and  wrung  her  hands 
and  several  times  fainted.  The  Revolutionists 
became  more  impatient  and  peremptory.  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  grew  haggard  and  worn.  His  enemies 
multiplied.  As  he  was  returning  from  a trying 
interview  at  the  Palace,  January  1 6,  1912,  a fanatic 
threw  a bomb  at  him.  Fortunately,  it  exploded 
twenty  feet  behind  the  Premier’s  carriage  so  that 
he  was  uninjured;  but  four  men  and  six  horses 
were  killed  and  nineteen  men  were  wounded.  Yuan 
Shih  Kai,  however,  held  to  his  course  with  un- 
flinching persistence  and  undismayed  fortitude. 

Finally,  he  succeeded  in  convincing  the  recal- 
citrant Manchus  that  he  was  their  friend  in 
advising  them  that  abdication  was  the  least  of  the 
ills  to  which  they  were  exposed,  and  on  February 
1 2th,  the  long  suspense  was  ended  by  an  Imperial 
Edict  announcing  the  abdication  of  the  Imperial 
Family.  Three  days  later,  February  15  th,  Sun  Yat 
Sen  resigned  the  Presidency  of  the  Republic  and 
the  National  Assembly  at  Nanking  elected  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  to  the  Presidency  of  the  now  united 
Republic.  An  election  to  such  an  exalted  post,  by 
such  a people,  in  such  circumstances,  by  a unani- 
mous vote,  was  surely  a high  tribute  both  to  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  and  to  the  men  who  elected  him.  On 
March  10th,  amid  impressive  ceremonies,  he  was 
formally  inaugurated  President  of  the  mighty  na- 
tion in  which,  only  a few  months  before,  he  had 

176 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


been  a private  citizen  under  the  Imperial  ban.  Few 
other  men  in  history  have  had  such  kaleidoscopic 
changes  of  fortune,  and  few  others  have  possessed 
the  transcendent  abilities  that  lift  one  so  high 
above  the  common  crowd.  One  does  not  wonder 
that  the  celebrated  Dutch  painter,  Hubert  Vos, 
several  years  ago  chose  Yuan  Shih  Kai  as  one  of 
the  men  whose  portraits  he  was  painting  for  a col- 
lection of  world  notables  for  a Paris  Exposition, 
and  that  when  Admiral  Lord  Charles  Beresford  of 
the  British  Navy  returned  from  a tour  of  Asia, 
he  said,  “ I have  met  one  man  in  China,  and  that 
man  is  Yuan  Shih  Kai.” 

Sun  Yat  Sen’s  part  in  the  Revolution  and  in 
subsequent  occurrences  deserves  high  praise.  This 
remarkable  man  is  the  son  of  a humble  Cantonese 
who  emigrated  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  after- 
wards returned  to  Canton,  where  he  was  converted 
and  became  a worker  in  the  mission  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society.  Sun  Yat  Sen  was  not  born  in 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  as  popularly  reported,  but 
he  himself  declares  that  he  was  born  in  China.1 
His  friend,  the  Rev.  Huie  Kin,  of  New  York,  says 
that  the  place  was  Houng  Sun,  in  the  Province  of 
Kwang-tung.  His  boyhood  was  spent  in  Hono- 
lulu, where  he  began  his  education  in  an  Episcopal 
school.  Returning  to  China,  he  completed  his 
education  in  mission  schools  in  Hong-kong  and 

1 “ My  Reminiscences,”  article  in  The  Strand  Magazine , April,  1912. 

1 77 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


Canton,  learning  English  and  studying  medicine 
under  the  famous  John  G.  Kerr,  M.D.,  of  the 
Presbyterian  Mission  in  Canton.  He  became  a 
Christian,  was  baptized  in  Hong-kong  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  C.  R.  Hager,  a Congregational  missionary, 
and  is  to-day  a consistent  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church.  He  married  and  his  wife  and 
two  sons  were,  at  last  accounts,  living  with  his 
widowed  mother  in  Hong-kong. 

Sun  Yat  Sen  early  identified  himself  with  the 
revolutionary  movement.  The  premature  dis- 
covery of  a plot  to  capture  Canton  compelled  him 
to  leave  the  country,  and  for  years  he  was  an  exile 
and  a wanderer  with  a price  upon  his  head.  In 
these  circumstances,  he  devoted  himself  to  promot- 
ing revolutionary7  sentiment  among  the  various 
Chinese  colonies  in  the  ports  of  Asia  outside  of 
China,  and  in  Europe  and  America,  and  to 
correspondence  with  the  revolutionary7  leaders  in 
China.  He  journeyed  and  labored  indefatigably 
to  advance  the  cause  to  which  he  had  consecrated 
his  life  and  which  he  firmly  believed  to  be  the  cause 
of  patriotism.  The  Government  made  repeated 
efforts  to  arrest  him,  and  once  he  was  inveigled 
into  the  Chinese  Legation  in  London  and  held  a 
prisoner.  But  before  he  could  be  deported,  British 
law  liberated  him.  It  speaks  much  for  the  skill 
and  magnetism  of  this  apparently  obscure  adven- 
turer, who  was  without  official  rank  or  influence, 

178 


See  pages  177-181 

Sun  Yat  Sen 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


who  was  hounded  as  an  outlaw  by  the  Imperial 
Government,  and  whose  assassination  would  have 
brought  to  the  murderer  a handsome  fortune, 
that  he  seemed  to  live  a charmed  life,  to  be  pro- 
tected by  his  countrymen  wherever  he  went,  to 
collect  great  sums  from  them,  and  to  induce  shrewd 
foreign  capitalists  to  make  considerable  loans  to 
the  revolutionary  movement.  He  frequently  vis- 
ited San  Francisco  and  New  York,  conferring  with 
financiers  and  influential  Chinese  merchants  and 
lecturing  to  crowded  audiences  of  Chinese. 

He  was  a man  of  quiet  demeanor  and  he  lived 
unostentatiously  when  in  New  York.  Those  who 
visited  him  there  little  dreamed  that  he  was  one  of 
the  master  minds  of  a revolutionary  movement  of 
unprecedentedly  colossal  proportions. 

He  hastened  back  to  his  native  land  when  the 
Revolution  broke  out  and  was  promptly  hailed  as 
its  civil  leader,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  out  of  the  country  for  fifteen  years.  There 
were  many  misgivings  among  the  foreign  friends 
of  China  when  he  accepted  the  Presidency  of  the 
Republic,  December  29,  1911.  Did  his  election 
represent  the  real  judgment  of  the  people  or  the 
hasty  action  of  a rump  Assembly?  Was  he,  with 
all  due  recognition  of  his  worth,  a sufficiently  com- 
manding personality  for  a situation  which  needed 
a combination  of  Oliver  Cromwell  and  George 
Washington?  Could  the  great  Yuan  Shih  Kai, 

179 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


who  had  long  been  the  most  powerful  man  in 
China,  who  had  held  the  exalted  rank  of  Gover- 
nor, Viceroy,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Grand  Councillor  of  the  Empire,  and  who  was 
now  in  actual  possession  of  the  Government  in 
Peking,  be  reasonably  expected  to  make  way  for 
this  comparatively  unknown  man  of  forty-six  years, 
who  had  never  held  an  office  in  his  life  and  was 
therefore  without  official  rank  and  administrative 
experience?  Sun  Yat  Sen  promptly  allayed  these 
misgivings  by  publicly  declaring  that  he  considered 
himself  merely  a Provisional  President  in  order  to 
give  civil  existence  and  unity  to  the  Revolution  and 
that  he  was  ready  to  lay  down  his  high  office  as 
soon  as  a permanent  republican  Government  could 
be  established,  especially  if  Yuan  Shih  Kai  would 
accept  the  Presidency.  This  sounded  well;  but 
when  a man  had  tasted  the  sweets  of  rank  and 
power  after  weary  years  as  a hunted  exile,  would  it 
be  human  nature  for  him  to  carry  out  his  promise  ? 

He  fulfilled  his  promise.  As  soon  as  the  abdica- 
tion of  the  Manchus  was  announced  and  he  was 
assured  of  the  loyal  adherence  of  Yuan  Shih  Kai 
to  the  Republic,  Sun  Yat  Sen  resigned  the  Presi- 
dency in  an  address  of  mingled  modesty  and 
dignity  worthy  of  the  finest  traditions  of  patriotism 
in  any  land.  It  was  a scene  of  historic  impressive- 
ness when  the  National  Assembly,  in  accepting 
his  resignation  and  electing  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  justly 

180 


LEADERS  OF  THE  NEW  CHINA 


declared  that  Sun  Yat  Sen  had  afforded  the  world 
“ an  example  of  purity  of  purpose  and  self-sacrifice 
unparalleled  in  history.”  Breadth  of  mind  to  con- 
ceive vast  plans,  skill  in  persuading  large  numbers 
of  men  to  accept  them,  courage  to  brave  powerful 
foes,  fortitude  and  determination  which  no  dis- 
couragement could  shake,  force  of  character  so  to 
impress  his  countrymen  that,  on  his  return  after 
an  absence  of  fifteen  years,  ambitious  revolutionary 
leaders  instantly  acknowledged  his  supremacy, 
wisdom  and  modesty  to  see  that  he  ought  to  make 
way  for  another,  and  moral  grandeur  to  carry  out 
this  self-effacing  purpose — such  a combination  of 
high  qualities  the  world  has  seldom  seen.  And  in 
and  through  all,  Sun  Yat  Sen  has  a Christian  faith 
which  opposition  of  relatives  could  not  prevent  him 
from  openly  confessing,  which  he  never  concealed 
from  his  non-Christian  revolutionary  associates, 
and  which  led  him  to  say  of  his  darkest  hours  as 
a prisoner  in  the  Chinese  Legation  in  London: 
“ My  despair  was  complete  and  only  by  prayer  to 
God  could  I gain  any  comfort.  ...  I shall  never 
forget  the  feeling  that  seemed  to  take  possession  of 
me  as  I rose  from  my  knees  on  the  morning  of 
Friday,  October  16th — a feeling  of  calmness, 
hopefulness  and  confidence,  that  assured  me  my 
prayer  was  heard  and  filled  me  with  hope  that  all 
would  yet  be  well.” — With  such  men  as  these,  the 
new  China  deserves  the  respect  of  mankind. 

181 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  AND  THE  DUTY 

OF  THE  CHRISTL\N  CHURCHES  OF  THE  WEST 

Will  the  Republic  endure?  Who  can  tell? 
Thoughtful  observers  are  not  yet  sure  that  the 
American  Republic  will  endure.  The  mob  and 
“ the  man  on  horseback  ” are  always  in  the  back- 
ground of  every  republic.  China  is  far  better 
fitted  for  republican  institutions  than  the  Philippine 
Islands  or  the  Mexican,  Central  American  and 
South  American  Republics.  Her  people  are  more 
stable,  peaceable  and  law  abiding  in  temperament, 
their  respect  for  constituted  authority  is  greater, 
and  the  government  of  their  local  communities 
has  long  been  more  largely  democratic  in  character. 

Nevertheless,  the  diffusion  of  those  fundamental 
ideas  of  education  and  religion  upon  which  popular 
government  must  rest  has  been  a matter  of  only 
a few  decades  in  China.  Vast  numbers  of  the  peo- 
ple have  as  yet  been  but  slightly  touched  by  them. 
Multitudes  who  have  received  the  external  forms 
of  western  civilization  and  government  have  not 
yet  adopted  the  Christian  basis  of  morals  which 
guarantees  the  wise  use  of  wider  opportunity.  The 

182 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


spirit  of  loyalty  as  against  other  nations  is  strong, 
but  the  sense  of  unity  between  the  widely  separated 
parts  of  the  country  is  still  weak.  Whether  the 
people  are  expecting  the  new  Government  instantly 
to  right  all  wrongs,  remedy  all  abuses,  and  usher 
in  an  era  of  unexampled  prosperity,  and  whether, 
when  they  find  that  the  millennium  does  not  at 
once  come,  they  will  become  restive,  remains  to 
be  seen.  It  remains  to  be  seen  also  whether  the 
Provinces  will  submit  to  governmental  measures 
which  do  not  please  them.  Revolutions  start 
easily  among  such  an  enormous  population,  spread 
, over  a vast  territory  in  which  there  are  yet  so  few 
railroads  that  distant  provinces  are  difficult  to 
reach.  Mongolia  is  likely  to  become  a Cave  of 
Adullam.  Manchus,  too  few  to  fight,  are  numer- 
ous enough  to  fan  embers  of  discontent  and  in- 
trigue with  foreign  foes.  Flood  and  famine  may 
again  make  millions  desperate.  The  army  is  a 
precarious  dependence,  as  Yuan  Shih  Kai  found 
to  his  sorrow  when  he  faced  a mutiny  after  his  elec- 
tion to  the  Presidency.  Americans  who  remember 
the  guerrilla  warfare  which  followed  the  war  be- 
tween the  States  will  be  slow  to  take  pessimistic 
views  of  an  outbreak  of  ignorant  Chinese  soldiers, 
whose  pay  was  in  arrears,  who  feared  that  they 
were  to  be  disbanded  without  their  just  dues,  and 
whose  cupidity  was  excited  by  the  hoarded  riches 
of  wealthy  nobles  and  merchants.  When  society 

183 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


has  been  so  upheaved  as  Chinese  society  has  been, 
time  is  required  for  the  subsidence  of  tumult  and 
the  establishment  of  a new  order. 

There  is,  too,  the  possibility  of  complications 
with  foreign  nations.  As  we  have  seen  in  a for- 
mer chapter,  European  powers  have  long  greedily 
watched  this  vast  and  comparatively  helpless  coun- 
try. Russia  is  eager  to  strengthen  her  interests  in 
Mongolia  and  northern  Manchuria.  Japan  is  in- 
terested in  southern  Manchuria,  Germany  in  Shan- 
tung, England  in  the  valleys  of  the  Yang-tze  and 
Pearl  Rivers,  and  France  in  Hai-nan  and  Yun-nan. 
Not  only  territorial  ambitions  but  large  financial 
interests  are  involved,  *foi*  China  owes  other  na- 
tions $625,000,000  gold.  The  heavy  interest 
charges  were  kept,  up  with  difficulty  in  the  face  of 
a deficit  in  the  national  treasury,  and  if  the  inter- 
est now  falls  behind  and  the  principal  is  thought 
to  be  jeopardized,  there  wTill  be  a pretext  for  inter- 
ference by  Powers  that  are  always  looking  for  one. 
Payments  due  on  account  of  the  Boxer  indemnity 
have  already  been  interrupted  by  the  Revolution, 
and  while  the  new  Government  will  undoubtedly 
resume  them  in  the  near  future,  this  obligation  is 
a constant  source  of  irritation  to  the  Chinese. 
Western  nations  will  doubtless  be  cautious  about 
overt  acts  of  interference,  but  they  may  make  their 
sinister  influence  felt  in  fomenting  internal  troubles 
and  in  secretly  encouraging  the  embittered  Man- 

184 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


chus  and  any  ambitious  Chinese  officials  who  may 
become  aggrieved  by  their  failure  to  receive  what 
they  deem  due  recognition  from  Yuan  Shih  Kai. 
The  fact  that  China’s  new  Government  is  repub- 
lican does  not  add  to  the  joy  of  Kings  and  Kaisers. 
They  will  not,  of  course,  publicly  admit  this;  but 
their  real  opinion  can  be  readily  understood. 
Every  throne  in  the  world  is  weaker  because  the 
Chinese  people  have  unseated  a sovereign  and  set 
up  a Republic,  and  monarchical  Japan  and  Europe 
will  not  be  sorry  if  the  experiment  does  not  prove 
successful.  The  partition  of  China  by  the  Powers, 
however,  is  hardly  probable.  No  one  nation  would 
be  permitted  by  other  nations  to  make  China 
either  a tributary  or  a protectorate.  A half-dozen 
Powers  are  determined  to  have  a share  if  the  break- 
up comes;  but  they  could  not  agree  among  them- 
selves as  to  division  of  the  spoil.  Each  has  thus 
far  taken  what  it  could  get,  and  is  far  from  pleased 
to  see  what  its  rivals  are  getting.  Actual  partition 
would  mean  a scramble  that  would  precipitate  a 
general  war;  and  such  a war  would  involve  so 
many  uncertainties  not  only  as  to  the  result  in 
China,  but  as  to  possible  readjustments  in  Europe 
itself,  that  the  Powers  wisely  shrink  from  it.  So 
they  prefer,  for  the  present  at  least,  the  policy  of 
“ spheres  of  influence,”  as  giving  them  a com- 
mercial foothold  and  political  influence  with  less 
risk  of  trouble. 

185 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


But  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  the  new 
Republic,  there  is  large  hope  for  the  future.  The 
mightiest  currents  of  modern  life  are  sweeping  to- 
ward “ government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people.”  The  Chinese  have  undertaken 
a gigantic  task,  but  they  have  shown  earnestness, 
intelligence,  and  resolution  in  the  steps  that  they 
have  thus  far  taken.  However  trying  the  period 
of  transition  may  be,  the  issue  is  not  doubtful. 
Progress  invariably  wins  the  victory  over  blind 
conservatism.  The  higher  idea  is  sure  to  conquer 
the  lower.  With  all  their  admixture  of  selfishness 
and  violence,  the  fact  remains  that  the  forces  oper- 
ating in  China  to-day  include  the  vital  elements  for 
the  regenerating  of  human  society. 

Will  the  new  China  be  a menace  to  the  nations 
of  the  West?  Not  if  they  treat  it  decently.  The 
temperament  of  the  Chinese  does  not  incline  them 
to  foreign  aggression.  But  the  spirit  of  new  China 
is  less  meek  under  injustice  than  was  that  of  old 
China.  A significant  illustration  of  this  was  given 
when  President  Sun  Yat  Sen,  before  the  Republic 
was  firmly  established,  gave  the  Dutch  in  Batavia 
one  week  to  make  reparation  for  the  murder  of 
several  Chinese  and  ordered  three  cruisers  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  to  shell  the  Dutch  city  if 
his  ultimatum  was  not  complied  with. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  “ Yellow 
Peril.”  Some  have  made  light  of  it,  as  “ a mere 

18  6 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


bugaboo  of  an  excited  imagination,”  because,  as 
they  allege,  China  has  neither  the  organization 
nor  the  valor  to  fight  Europe,  and  if  it  had,  could 
not  transport  its  army  and  navy  so  vast  a distance. 
But  surely  organization  and  valor  can  be  acquired 
by  the  Chinese  as  well  as  by  other  peoples.  Their 
present  helplessness  before  the  aggressive  for- 
eigner is  rapidly  teaching  them  the  necessity  for 
the  former.  As  for  the  latter,  it  is  well  known  that 
the  most  dangerous  fighter  is  the  strong  but  peace- 
ably disposed  man  who  has  been  goaded  to  despera- 
tion by  long-continued  insult  and  injustice.  Amer- 
icans may  discreetly  remember  that  they  them- 
selves were  once  sneeringly  described  as  “ a nation 
of  shopkeepers  who  wouldn’t  and  couldn’t  fight” 
China  has  plenty  of  men  who  can  fight,  and 
when  they  are  well  commanded,  they  make  as  good 
soldiers  as  there  are  in  the  world,  as  “ Chinese 
Gordon  ” showed.  Was  not  his  force  called  the 
“ Ever  Victorious  Army,”  because  it  was  never 
defeated?  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  of  the  Eng- 
lish Navy,  said,  after  personal  inspection  of  many 
of  the  troops  of  China,  “ I am  convinced  that 
properly  armed,  disciplined  and  led,  there  could 
be  no  better  material  than  the  Chinese  soldier.” 
Admiral  Dewey  reported  that  the  fifty  Chinese 
who  served  under  him  in  the  battle  of  Manila 
Bay  fought  so  magnificently  that  they  proved  them- 
selves equal  in  courage  to  American  sailors,  and 

187 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


recommended  that  they  should  be  made  American 
citizens  by  special  enactment. 

China’s  humiliations  at  the  hands  of  foreign 
countries,  which  she  regarded  as  inferior  but  which 
had  more  effective  armies,  have  taught  her  the  bit- 
ter lesson  that  she  must  change  her  military  meth- 
ods, put  a higher  class  of  men  into  her  regiments, 
give  them  better  pay  and  equipment,  secure  a higher 
grade  of  officers,  remove  the  stigma  that  has  here- 
tofore rested  upon  the  profession  of  arms  and 
accord  officers  a status  which  will  make  military 
service  more  attractive  to  educated  men.  Under 
the  energetic  leadership  of  the  two  most  enlight- 
ened Viceroys,  Yuan  Shih  Kai  and  Chang  Chih- 
tung,  army  corps  aggregating  1 50,000  men  had 
been  developed  by  1906  and  foreign  military  at- 
taches who  witnessed  their  autumn  manoeuvres  “ re- 
ported with  surprise  that  they  had  seen  a formida- 
ble modern  army  and  a display  momentous  and 
epoch-making  in  the  history  of  the  Far  East.” 
When  Lieutenant  General  MacArthur,  of  the 
United  States  Army,  inspected  the  10,000  troops 
at  the  military  post  at  Tsinan- fu  in  1910,  he  said 
to  the  missionary  who  accompanied  him : “ Why, 
this  is  intensely  interesting.  Look  at  those  bar- 
racks built  of  Oregon  pine  and  lit  with  electricity ! 
They  are  as  good  as  our  western  armies  have. 
Then  the  drill!  There  is  no  army  with  which  I 
am  acquainted  which  has  learned  in  more  soldierly 

188 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


fashion  this  first  lesson  in  the  alphabet  of  war. 
And  the  significant  thing  is  that  the  Chinese  are 
doing  it  themselves — not  a Japanese  or  German  in 
sight.”  This  camp  was  but  one  of  six  in  north 
China  and  north  China  was  but  one  of  the  four 
military  districts  of  the  Empire. 

It  is  odd  that  any  intelligent  person  should  sup- 
pose that  distance  is  an  effectual  barrier  against 
an  aroused  and  organized  Asia.  It  is  no  farther 
from  China  to  Europe  than  from  Europe  to  China, 
and  Europe  has  not  found  the  distance  a barrier  to 
its  designs  on  China.  England,  Germany,  France, 
Russia,  and  even  the  Netherlands  and  Portugal, 
have  all  managed  to  send  battleships  and  troops 
to  the  Far  East,  to  seize  territory  and  to  subjugate 
the  inhabitants.  Why  should  it  be  deemed  im- 
possible for  China,  which  is  as  large  as  these  na- 
tions combined,  to  do  what  they  have  done?  As 
late  as  the  beginning  of  1904,  Russia  ridiculed  the 
idea  that  Japan  could  do  anything  against  a west- 
ern power,  and  all  Europe  and  America,  while 
admiring  the  pluck  of  the  Japanese,  confidently 
expected  them  to  be  crushed  by  the  Slav.  Wise 
men  will  think  twice  in  the  future  before  they 
sneer  at  the  yellow  race.  If  Japan  in  half  a century 
could  go  from  junks  and  cloisonne  to  battleships 
and  magazine  rifles,  and  to  handling  them,  too, 
more  scientifically  and  effectively  than  they  were 
ever  handled  by  white  men,  why  should  it  be 

189 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


deemed  chimerical  that  China,  with  equal  ability, 
greater  resources  and  certainly  no  less  provocation, 
should  in  time  achieve  even  vaster  results?  “ You 
urge  us  to  move  faster,”  said  a Mandarin  to  a 
foreigner.  “ We  are  slow  to  respond,  for  we  are 
a conservative  people ; but  if  you  force  us  to  start, 
we  may  move  faster  and  farther  than  you  like.” 

It  would  be  unwise  to  underestimate  the  gravity 
of  the  situation,  or  to  assume  that  the  most  numer- 
ous and  conservative  nation  on  the  globe  has  been 
suddenly  and  completely  transformed  in  character. 
The  movement  toward  better  conditions  may  be 
attended  by  mistakes  and  manifestations  of  human 
infirmity.  Inflamed  passions  may  be  slow  in  sub- 
siding. Men  who  are  identified  with  the  old  era 
will  not  give  up  without  a struggle.  Many  of  the 
Revolutionists  may  be  intoxicated  by  their  sudden 
success  and  advocate  all  sorts  of  vagaries.  In 
spite  of  the  national  spirit  of  sobriety  and  conserv- 
atism, there  is  a good  deal  of  the  heady,  rhetor- 
ical sophomore  in  some  of  the  younger  Chinese. 

But  let  us  not  be  deceived  by  the  disturbances 
incident  to  a period  of  transition  during  which 
good  and  evil  are  struggling  together  for  the  mas- 
tery, and  during  which  also  mixed  motives  appear 
among  those  who  are  being  used,  perhaps  un- 
consciously to  themselves,  for  the  inauguration  of 
a better  day.  It  took  five  hundred  years  to  bring 
Europe  only  part  of  the  way  from  paganism  to 

!90 


The  New  Soldiery  of  China 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


Christianity;  and  China  is  larger  by  far  and  is  more 
conservative  than  Europe.  The  world  moves 
faster  now,  and  the  change-producing  forces  of 
the  present  exceed  those  of  former  centuries  as  a 
modern  steam  hammer  exceeds  a wooden  sledge. 
But  China  is  ponderous,  and  a few  decades  are 
short  for  so  gigantic  a transformation^  Whatever 
may  be  the  blunders  and  crimes  of  the  changing 
order,  however  uncertain  progress  may  be  here 
and  there,  whatever  backward  steps  may  be  taken 
for  a time,  it  is  clear  that  conditions  can  never 
revert  to  their  former  state.  The  old  order  has 
been  broken  up  once  for  all.  That  dam  has  burst. 
We  must  be  large-minded  enough  and  have  enough 
of  the  Christian  altruistic  spirit  to  discern  the  good 
that  will  surely  follow.  The  Crusades  were  fright- 
ful tragedies  and  attended  by  horrors  over  which 
the  world  still  shudders;  but  they  broke  up  the 
stagnation  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  liberated 
men’s  minds  from  iron-bound  traditions.  They 
gave  new  knowledge  of  other  peoples.  They 
awakened  new  aspirations,  and  they  so  changed 
the  conditions  which  had  hitherto  repressed  truth 
and  liberty  that  they  made  possible  a better  era. 
May  we  not  believe  that  the  present  upheaval  in 
China  may,  in  the  providence  of  God,  serve  a sim- 
ilar purpose,  and  that  even  as  a new  Europe  fol- 
lowed the  chaos  of  the  Crusades,  so  a new  Asia 
will  follow  the  chaos  of  the  present  Revolution? 

191 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


But  our  late  Secretary  of  State,  John  Hay,  would 
have  added  reason  now  to  repeat  the  warning 
which  he  uttered  not  long  before  his  death : u The 
political  storm-centre  of  the  world  has  shifted 
steadily  eastward  from  the  Balkans,  from  Con- 
stantinople, from  the  Persian  Gulf,  from  India, 
to  China;  and  whoever  understands  that  Empire 
and  its  people  has  a key  to  world-politics  for  the 
next  five  centuries.” 

I cannot  close  this  chapter  without  reiterating 
my  conviction  that  the  individual  Chinese  is  one 
of  the  most  virile,  industrious  and  self-reliant  men 
in  the  world.  Unaided,  he  overcomes  obstacles 
and  makes  his  way  where  many  other  men  fail. 
He  has  lacked  heretofore  national  spirit;  he  has 
not  been  willing  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  common 
good.  China,  therefore,  has  been  weak  and  help- 
less in  international  affairs,  as  compared  with  the 
compact  and  united  Japanese  and  with  western 
governments  wThich  are  able  to  mass  their  na- 
tional resources  for  aggressive  purposes.  But  if 
these  individual  Chinese  are  inspired  with  a na- 
tional spirit,  if  they  realize  that  in  union  is  strength, 
then,  with  the  weapons  of  modem  warfare  in 
their  hands,  and  moving,  not  as  individuals,  but 
as  a united  country  of  433,000,000  people,  they 
will  become  one  of  the  mightiest  powers  that  the 
world  has  seen.  This  inspiration  with  a national 
spirit,  this  fusing  of  individualism  into  the  unit}7 

192 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


of  a majestic  nation,  is  now  taking  place.  Rail- 
ways and  telegraphs  are  bringing  the  widely  sep- 
arated parts  of  the  Empire  together.  Aggressions 
of  outside  nations  are  awakening  irritation  and  be- 
getting knowledge  that  union  is  necessary  to  pres- 
ervation. Modern  education  is  kindling  new  am- 
bitions. Contact  with  other  peoples  is  widening 
horizons.  Newspapers  are  proclaiming  reform. 
The  Gospel  of  Christ  is  exalting  ideals,  creating 
Christian  character  and  strengthening  moral  pur- 
poses. Chinese  individuals  are  being  welded  in 
the  fires  of  modern  life  into  a Chinese  nation. 
Old  China  memorized  Confucian  classics;  new 
China  studies  modern  science.  Old  China  was  a 
loose  aggregation  of  individuals;  new  China  is  de- 
veloping national  unity.  Old  China  was  helpless 
in  international  affairs;  new  China  is  becoming  a 
world  power.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the  Re- 
vival of  Learning,  the  religious  Reformation,  the 
rise  of  constitutional  government,  the  development 
of  scientific  knowledge,  the  introduction  of  labor- 
saving  machinery,  and  the  new  spirit  of  human 
brotherhood,  which  in  Europe  and  America  were 
scattered  over  several  different  countries  and  cen- 
turies so  that  the  white  race  could,  in  a measure 
at  least,  adjust  itself  to  them  by  degrees  one  at 
a time,  have  in  China  occurred  in  a single  country 
all  at  once.  The  stupendous  magnitude  of  this 
transformation  dwarfs  every  other  movement. 

193 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


Our  duty  is  not  to  resist  it,  not  to  drill  armies  and 
build  navies  for  an  era  of  conflict,  but  to  treat  the 
new  China  justly  and  to  aid  in  inspiring  it  with 
noble  resolve. 

The  most  solemn  responsibility  rests  upon  the 
Christian  Churches  and  upon  their  missionaries  at 
such  a time  as  this.  They  need  to  a remarkable 
degree  a combination  of  wisdom,  of  patience,  of 
fortitude,  of  courage,  and  of  firmness.  Having 
been  led  by  an  imperative  sense  of  duty  to  preach 
Christian  truths  to  China,  having  declared  those 
truths  which  always  and  everywhere  awaken  the 
minds  of  men,  they  must  continue  their  work. 
They  cannot  set  in  motion  such  vast  reconstructive 
forces  and  then  abandon  their  efforts  when  the  old 
walls  begin  to  crumble  and  the  air  is  filled  with 
flying  debris  and  clouds  of  dust.  The  overshadow- 
ing question  to-day  is  whether  the  people  of  God 
will  be  equal  to  the  new  emergency.  If  we  think 
of  the  answer  to  this  question  from  the  view-point 
of  the  Divine  purpose  and  power,  we  shall,  of 
course,  unhesitatingly  answer  in  the  affirmative. 
But  we  are  to  consider  the  question  from  the  view- 
point of  the  human,  as  well  as  the  Divine.  God 
has  chosen  to  work  through  His  people,  and  will 
His  people  in  Europe  and  America  respond  to  His 
call?  Will  they  see  that  the  missionary  enterprise, 
which  stands  for  the  purifying  and  regenerative 
influences  of  the  world,  is  so  sustained  that  it  will 

194 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


be  adequate  to  the  colossal  needs  of  the  new  era  ? 
It  would  be  a calamity  to  the  whole  world  if 
the  dominant  nation  of  Asia  should  be  anti-Chris- 
tian or  even  non-Christian.  If  it  is  not  to  be, 
immediate  and  herculean  efforts  must  be  made  to 
regenerate  it.  Sir  Robert  Hart  declared  that  the 
only  hope  of  averting  “ the  yellow  peril  ” lay 
either  in  partition  among  the  great  Powers,  which 
he  regarded  as  so  difficult  as  to  be  impracticable, 
or  in  a miraculous  spread  of  Christianity  which 
would  transform  the  national  character. 

China’s  new  system  of  education  shows  the 
danger  of  adopting  modern  methods  without  Chris- 
tian principles.  It  virtually  debars  Christians  from 
the  faculties  and  student  body.  Infidelity,  how- 
ever, has  free  entrance  as  long  as  it  adheres  to 
the  external  forms  imposed  by  the  State.  An 
Edict  of  January,  1907,  placed  the  veneration 
of  Confucius  upon  the  same  level  as  the  wor- 
ship of  Heaven  and  Earth  and  made  homage  to 
the  tablet  of  Confucius  compulsory  upon  all  of- 
ficials and  teachers  and  pupils  in  the  Government 
schools.  Some  writers  have  construed  this  as  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to  avoid 
the  difficulty  which  has  existed  in  the  case  of  Chris- 
tian students  who  had  conscientious  scruples  about 
the  worship  of  Confucius,  since  Heaven  and  Earth 
are  worshipped  only  by  the  Emperor.  But  many 
missionaries  do  not  place  this  construction  upon 

195 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


the  Edict.  They  regard  it  rather  as  an  attempted 
defence  against  the  growing  power  of  Christian- 
ity. Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  must  be  matched  in 
the  popular  mind  by  another  Divine  Man,  Con- 
fucius, who  must  be  regarded  henceforth  as  more 
than  a holy  man  and  sage.  At  any  rate,  the  Gov- 
ernment schools  are  far  from  being  comfortable 
places  for  consistent  Christians.  A conference  of 
the  Manchurian  Missions  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian 
Church  and  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland, 
September,  1910,  sent  an  appeal  on  this  subject  to 
their  respective  Boards,  from  which  I make  the 
following  extracts : “ The  key  of  the  religious  sit- 
uation in  China  at  present  is  in  the  hands  of  her 
students.  In  no  country7  of  the  world  do  educated 
young  men  hold  such  a position  of  influence  as  in 
this  Empire.  New  schools  and  colleges  of  all 
grades  are  in  existence  and  education  is  free,  though 
not  yet  compulsory.  The  outlook  of  this  vast  body 
of  young  men  is  less  skeptical  and  materialistic 
than  formerly.  But  while  Japanese  influence  and 
modes  of  thought  have  ready  access  to  their  minds, 
it  is  very  different  with  Christianity.”  “ Anti- 
conservative  but  anti-Christian,”  the  educational 
movement  has  been  characterized  by  Dr.  Wat- 
son M.  Hayes.  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin,  formerly 
President  of  the  Imperial  University,  declares 
that  “ if  Christians  at  home  only  knew  what  a 
determined  effort  is  being  made  to  exclude  Chris- 

196 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


tian  teachers  and  Christian  text-books  from  Chi- 
nese Government  schools,  they  would  exert  them- 
selves to  give  a Christian  education  to  the  youth 
of  China.’’  A single  mission  institution,  with 
its  union  of  the  best  educational  methods  and 
the  highest  ideals  of  Christian  character,  will  do 
more  for  the  real  enlightenment  of  China  than 
a dozen  provincial  colleges  where  gambling  and 
irreligion  are  freely  tolerated,  and  a failure  to 
worship  the  tablet  of  Confucius  is  deemed  the  only 
cardinal  sin. 

The  Christian  people  of  the  West  are  not  try- 
ing to  give  China  a “ civilization.”  They  have 
no  wish  to  interfere  with  native  customs  which 
have  no  moral  bearing,  or  with  those  political 
questions  which  each  nation  has  a right  to  de- 
cide for  itself.  It  is  true  that  some  changes  in 
individual  and  community  life  invariably  follow 
the  acceptance  of  Christianity;  but  these  changes 
relate  to  those  things  that  are  inherently  right 
or  wrong  irrespective  of  the  government  to  which 
they  appear  to  belong.  The  Gospel  will  do 
in  China  what  it  does  everywhere  — fight  vice, 
cleanse  foulness,  dispel  superstition,  purify  society, 
promote  intelligence,  transform  life,  elevate  wom- 
an, and  give  fitness  for  the  wise  and  beneficent  use 
of  power. 

The  question  is  not  whether  the  Chinese  desire 
Christ,  but  whether  they  need  Him.  A man’s 

197 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


answer  to  that  question  largely  depends  upon  his 
own  relation  to  Christ.  If  we  need  Him,  the 
Chinese  do.  If  He  has  done  anything  for  us,  if 
He  has  brought  any  dignity,  power  and  peace  into 
our  lives,  He  can  do  as  much  for  the  Chinese. 
The  objection  that  the  Chinese  have  religions  of 
their  own  is  wholly  misleading.  Confucianism  is 
not  a religion  in  a proper  sense  of  the  term,  but 
at  its  best  an  agnostic  code  of  human  relations 
and  at  its  worst  a superstitious  worship  of  the 
spirits  of  ancestors.  Practical  Buddhism  and 
Taoism,  as  they  exist  in  China  to-day,  are  a maze 
of  degrading  superstitions  which  are  utterly  desti- 
tute of  moral  vigor  and  of  which  their  founders 
would  be  heartily  ashamed  if  they  could  return  to 
earth.  The  difference  between  such  systems  and 
Christianity  is  one  not  of  degree,  but  of  kind,  the 
difference  between  light  and  darkness.  If  any 
American  imagines  that  such  so-called  religions  are 
“ good  enough  for  the  Chinese,”  ask  him  whether 
they  are  good  enough  for  him.  I have  scant 
respect  for  the  Pharisaism  which  holds  that  the 
white  man  needs  the  best  religion,  but  that  any 
ignorant,  distorted  conceptions  of  God  will  do  for 
our  brother  man  in  China. 

That  multitudes  of  Chinese  outside  of  the 
Churches  are  beginning  to  have  a better  under- 
standing of  Christianity  and  are  showing  greater 
readiness  to  receive  it,  recent  events  clearly  prove. 

198 


Candidates  for  Christian  Ministry,  Shantung  Christian  College 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


Missionaries  in  widely  separated  parts  of  the 
country  write  glowingly  of  the  remarkable  change 
in  public  sentiment.  Bishop  James  W.  Bashford 
wrote  from  Peking,  December  22,  1911 : “ What- 
ever may  be  before  us  in  the  immediate  future,  I 
am  confident  that  the  greatest  opportunity  which 
ever  confronted  Christianity  is  before  us  in  China. 
The  Foo-chow  Methodist  Conference  received 
General  Sung  (the  new  military  Governor  of  Fo- 
kien  Province)  and  his  Cabinet  in  a reception  dur- 
ing the  Conference  week,  exactly  as  it  had  received 
representatives  of  the  Manchu  Government  on 
similar  occasions  in  previous  years.  The  most 
dramatic  incident  in  this  reception  was  a request 
by  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Posts  and  Com- 
munications for  prayers  for  the  Cabinet  and  for 
General  Sung  and  the  promptness  with  which  Gen- 
eral Sung  leaped  to  his  feet  and  bowed  his  head 
the  moment  the  request  was  made.  I offered  a 
brief  prayer  at  the  close  of  my  remarks,  while  all 
stood.  The  Rev.  Huong  Pau  Seng  says  that  if 
our  Church  were  prepared  with  suitable  places  of 
worship,  we  could  receive  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  people  into  these  churches  and  teach  them  the 
Christian  doctrine  within  the  next  few  months. 
I have  been  meeting  surprises  ever  since  I came 
to  China,  but  have  never  been  more  surprised  than 
at  the  longing  with  which  the  Chinese  turn  to  us 
for  help  and  instruction  in  regard  to  the  true  God 

199 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


and  the  true  way  of  life  in  the  crisis  which  is 
upon  them.” 

This  is  the  need  to  which  the  Churches  of  Europe 
and  America  are  addressing  themselves  through 
the  Boards  of  Foreign  Missions.  These  Boards 
are  the  channels  through  which  the  highest  type  of 
Christian  teaching  is  communicated  to  non-Chris- 
tian peoples,  the  agencies  which  gather  up  the 
noblest  forces  in  our  modern  life  and  faith  and 
concentrate  them  upon  the  conditions  of  China. 
Foreign  Missions  is  therefore  not  only  a question  of 
religion,  but  a problem  of  statesmanship  which  is 
of  concern  for  the  whole  world.  As  such,  it  merits 
the  sympathy  and  cooperation  of  every  intelligent 
and  broad-minded  man,  irrespective  of  his  relig- 
ious affiliations.  Its  spiritual  aims  are  supremely 
sufficient  for  every  true  disciple  of  Christ,  but 
its  moral,  social  and  educational  value  justly 
claims  the  interest  and  support  of  all.  It  founds 
schools  and  colleges  for  the  training  of  the  young; 
establishes  hospitals  for  the  care  of  the  sick; 
operates  printing-presses  for  the  dissemination  of 
the  Bible  and  a Christian  literature;  maintains 
churches  for  the  worship  of  God;  and  in  and 
through  all  it  preaches  the  transforming  and  up- 
lifting Gospel  of  Him  who  alone  can  “ speak 
peace  ” to  the  strifes  of  men. 

Effort  to  minimize  the  significance  of  mission- 
ary work  in  China  will  be  made  only  by  those  who, 

200 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


destitute  of  vital  religious  faith  themselves,  natu- 
rally see  no  reason  for  communicating  it  to  others, 
or  by  those  who  are  strangely  blind  and  deaf  to  the 
real  significance  of  the  time.  In  the  words  of 
Benjamin  Kidd,  “ it  is  not  improbable  that,  to  a 
future  observer,  one  of  the  most  curious  features 
of  our  time  will  appear  to  be  the  prevailing  un- 
consciousness of  the  real  nature  of  the  issues  in 
the  midst  of  which  we  are  living.”  “ No  more,” 
observes  Lecky,  “ did  the  statesmen  and  the  phi- 
losophers of  Rome  understand  the  character  and 
issues  of  that  greatest  movement  of  all  history,  of 
which  their  literature  takes  so  little  notice.  That 
the  greatest  religious  change  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind should  have  taken  place  under  the  eyes  of 
a brilliant  galaxy  of  philosophers  and  historians 
who  were  profoundly  conscious  of  decomposition 
around  them;  that  all  these  writers  should  have 
utterly  failed  to  predict  the  issue  of  the  movement 
they  were  then  observing;  and  that  during  the 
space  of  three  centuries  they  should  have  treated 
as  simply  contemptible  an  agency  which  all  men 
must  now  admit  to  have  been,  for  good  or  evil,  the 
most  powerful  moral  lever  that  has  ever  been  ap- 
plied to  the  affairs  of  men,  are  facts  well  worthy 
of  meditation  in  every  period  of  religious  transi- 
tion.” 1 

The  missionaries,  through  whom  this  great 
1 “ History  of  European  Morals,”  Vol.  I,  3 59. 

201 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


work  is  done  in  China,  are  highly  educated,  care- 
fully selected  men  and  women,  the  best  types  of 
western  Christian  character,  culture,  and  wisdom. 
They  are  not  perfect,  no  one  is,  not  even  the  critic 
of  the  missionary  enterprise;  but  they  come  nearer 
to  perfection  than  any  other  class  that  I know 
either  at  home  or  abroad.  They  average  very  high 
in  those  qualities  which  fit  men  and  women  to  per- 
form a noble  duty  at  a time  and  place  of  strategic 
world  significance.  During  all  the  trying  and 
sometimes  dangerous  period  of  flood,  famine,  pes- 
tilence and  revolution,  their  position  was  one  of 
extraordinary  difficulty — myriads  of  starving  Chi- 
nese looking  to  them  for  provisions  and  employ- 
ment, throngs  of  the  sick  and  injured  daily  brought 
for  treatment,  Chinese  and  foreigners  alike  ex- 
pecting them  to  perform  the  herculean  task  of  pur- 
chasing and  distributing  food,  their  compounds 
sometimes  exposed  to  mob  violence,  frequently 
sheltering  refugees  now  from  one  side  and  now 
from  the  other,  and,  in  some  places,  meeting  calls 
to  mediate  between  the  contending  parties.  But 
they  bore  themselves  with  a discretion,  a dignity 
and  a fidelity  which  were  worthy  of  all  praise. 

I have  elsewhere  cited  a number  of  instances  of 
the  recognition  which  the  Chinese  themselves  are 
giving  to  the  wrorth  of  the  Christian  enterprise, 
and  I may  add  here  another  which  bears  more 
particularly  upon  the  point  now  under  discussion. 

202 


St.  John's  University,  Shanghai 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


Dr.  Timothy  Richard  of  Shanghai  reports  that 
at  a meeting  where  representatives  of  Confucian- 
ism, Buddhism,  Taoism,  Mohammedanism,  and 
Christianity  met  in  19 11  in  Shanghai,  one  Man- 
darin said,  “ When  I go  to  the  country  and  see 
a good  school  or  college,  and  ask,  ‘ Who  put  it 
up  ? ’ The  answer  is,  ‘ The  Christians.’  When  I 
see  a good  hospital  where  many  patients  are  at- 
tended to  daily,  and  ask,  ‘ Who  does  this?  ’ I am 
told  it  is  the  Christians.  When  I look  over  the 
names  on  the  Famine  Relief  Committee,  I find 
that  those  who  are  taking  a leading  part  both  in 
the  raising  of  funds  and  in  the  very  dangerous 
work  of  distribution  of  relief  are  Christians.” 
When  the  new  building  of  the  George  Yardley 
Taylor  Memorial  Hospital  was  opened  at  Paoting- 
fu,  Dr.  Charles  Lewis  invited  all  the  high  officials 
in  the  city  to  the  dedication  service.  In  showing 
the  Provincial  Treasurer  the  church,  he  pointed  to 
certain  seats,  saying,  “ That  is  where  the  soldiers 
sit.”  “Soldiers!  what  soldiers?”  replied  the  of- 
ficial. “ Chinese  soldiers  from  the  camp  over 
there,”  said  the  Doctor.  “ Why,  do  our  Chinese 
soldiers  come  here  to  church?  ” said  the  Treasurer. 
“ Yes,”  replied  the  Doctor,  “ lots  of  them.” 
“ Well,”  answered  the  official,  pointing  to  the  Ten 
Commandments  hanging  on  the  wall,  “ if  you  can 
get  that  teaching  into  their  minds,  they  will  be 
good  soldiers.”  Afterwards  he  said:  “ I see  now 

203 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


one  decided  difference  between  Christianity  and 
Confucianism,  the  motive  and  incentive  of  the  two 
systems  are  not  alike.  Christianity  seems  to  have 
the  power  to  go  out  from  one’s  self  to  others; 
it  is  not  self-centred,  but  works  for  others.  Con- 
fucianism doesn’t  do  that.  Where  do  you  find 
Confucianism  building  hospitals  and  schools  for 
poor  people  and  strangers ! Quite  different ! ” 
The  people  in  thirteen  small  villages  near  by  in- 
dicated their  opinion  by  clubbing  together  and  pre- 
senting the  hospital  wffth  a large  red  silk  banner 
on  which  was  inscribed  in  characters  of  gold  the 
following  sentence : “ This  place  bestows  grace  on 
the  Chinese  people.” 

How  soon  and  how  adequately  will  the  Chris- 
tian Churches  of  the  West  meet  the  extraordinary 
opportunity  which  China  now  offers  ? It  produces 
a feeling  of  impatience  w’hen  one  is  told  that  all 
missionary  plans  for  China  must  be  contingent 
upon  “ the  settlement  of  political  negotiations,” 
“ the  continuance  in  power  of  Yuan  Shih  Kai,” 
“ the  maintenance  of  a strong  foreign  military  and 
naval  force  in  China,”  “ the  thwarting  of  Rus- 
sia’s plans  for  supremacy,”  and  several  other 
things.  We  cannot,  indeed,  be  indifferent  to  the 
course  of  political  events  or  to  their  bearing  upon 
the  missionary  problem.  But  neither  can  we  make 
our  obedience  to  Christ  and  our  duty  to  our  fellow 
men  dependent  upon  political  considerations.  For 

204 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


Christian  men  to  wait  until  China  is  pacified,  or 
“ until  she  is  enlightened  by  the  dissemination  of 
truer  conceptions  of  the  western  world,”  would 
be  to  abdicate  their  responsibility  as  the  chief  fac- 
tor in  bringing  about  a better  state  of  affairs.  Is 
the  Church  prepared  to  abandon  the  field  to  the 
diplomat,  the  soldier,  the  trader?  How  soon  is 
China  likely  to  be  pacified  by  them,  judging  from 
their  past  acts?  The  Gospel  is  the  primary  need 
of  China  to-day.  The  period  of  unrest  is  not  the 
time  for  the  messenger  of  Christ  to  hold  his  peace, 
but  to  declare  with  new  zeal  and  fidelity  his  min- 
istry of  reconciliation. 

The  force  is  now  painfully  inadequate.  To  say 
that  there  are  4,299  Protestant  foreign  mission- 
aries in  China  is  apt  to  mislead,  unless  one  remem- 
bers the  immensity  of  the  population.  Station 
fields  with  half  a million  people,  and  in  some  in- 
stances several  millions,  are  comparatively  well- 
manned  if  they  average  four  missionary  families 
and  a couple  of  single  women.  There  is  only  one 
missionary  to  100,000  souls.  But  this  counts  the 
sick,  the  aged,  recruits  learning  the  language, 
wives  whose  time  is  absorbed  by  household  cares, 
and  men  who  are  absent  on  furlough.  The  actual 
working  force,  therefore,  is  far  smaller  than  the 
statistics  suggest. 

Of  China  as  a whole,  it  is  said  that  “ some  of 
the  missionaries  and  some  of  the  converts  are  to 

205 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


be  found  in  every  one  of  the  Provinces.  But  of 
the  1,900  odd  counties  into  which  the  Provinces 
are  divided,  each  with  one  important  town  and  a 
large  part  of  them  with  more  than  one,  at  least 
four-fifths  are  almost  entirely  unprovided  with 
the  means  of  hearing  the  Gospel.”  Grant  that  the 
work  of  direct  evangelization  must  be  done  chiefly 
by  Chinese  Christians,  there  is  still  much  for  the 
missionary  to  do.  Allowing  for  those  who,  on  ac- 
count of  illness,  furlough  or  other  duties,  are  tem- 
porarily non-effective,  10,000  missionaries  for 
China  would  not  give  a working  average  of  one 
for  every  50,000  of  the  population. 

I do  not  profess  to  predict  what  the  immediate 
future  has  in  store.  There  are  encouraging  and 
discouraging  factors.  “ Men  ask  us  for  the  bot- 
tom facts,”  exclaims  Dr.  Arthur  H.  Smith,  of 
Peking.  “ They  can’t  have  them,  because  there 
is  no  bottom  and  there  are  no  facts.” 

We  must  not  underestimate  the  difficulties  of 
the  situation.  The  hindrances  to  the  progress  of 
the  Gospel  were  at  first  suspicion,  dense  supersti- 
tion, the  inertia  of  centuries  of  stagnation,  fear 
and  dislike  of  anything  associated  with  white  men, 
and  powerful,  established  non-Christian  faiths. 
These  hindrances  still  exist  in  varying  degrees  of 
intensity.  Some  are  showing  unmistakable  signs 
of  disintegration.  New  hindrances,  however,  are 
developing.  Knowledge  of  western  nations  is 

206 


Shi  Ma-Li-A 

Shi  Ala— Li— A is  known  to  her  English  friends  as  Dr.  Alary 
Stone.  She  was  born  of  Christian  parents  in  Kiu— kiang.  Through 
a missionary  she  was  given  an  opportunity  to  secure  a medical 
education  in  the  United  States.  She  received  her  M.D.  from  the 
University  of  Michigan  at  Ann  Arbor  in  1896.  During  the  year 
1910,  Dr.  Stone  treated  15,941  patients  in  the  hospital,  dispensary, 
and  homes  of  her  native  town.  T11  addition  to  her  work  as  a doctor, 
she  directs  a large  training  school  for  women  and  superintends 
primary  and  secondary  schools  in  that  district. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


bringing  new  temptations.  Some  Chinese  have 
thrown  oh  the  old  conservatism  to  become  as  vola- 
tile as  the  Athenians  who  eagerly  sought  “ some 
new  thing/’  and  social  and  religious  vagaries  of 
the  West  are  finding  virgin  soil  for  a rank  growth 
of  fantastic  “ isms.”  It  is  easier  to  change  political 
institutions  than  to  change  character  so  that  institu- 
tions which  are  theoretically  better  will  be  prac- 
tically operative.  There  is  to  be  a new  China,  but 
whether  it  is  to  be  better  or  worse  than  the  old 
depends  largely  upon  whether  the  Christian  men 
of  the  West  will  strengthen  the  forces  which  make 
for  righteousness. 

There  is  immense  .opportunity  for  missionary 
work  in  China,  but  it  must  be  done  amid  new  so- 
cial and  political  complications,  the  upheaval  of 
Chinese  society,  the  surging  currents  and  counter- 
currents  of  a new  era,  the  increasing  anti-foreign 
spirit,  and  the  stubborn  feeling  of  multitudes  in 
China  that  Christianity  is  not  only  identified  with 
foreign  ideas  but  is  subversive  of  ancestral  worship, 
to  which  the  Chinese  tenaciously  cling. 

But  there  is  another  side.  It  would  not  be 
fair,  as  it  would  not  be  Christian,  to  consider  the 
difficulties  of  the  future  apart  from  the  influence 
which  the  Gospel  of  Christ  has  in  modifying  those 
difficulties.  It  is  true  that  forces  of  evil  and  de- 
moralization are  at  work.  It  is  true  also  that  the 
constructive  force  of  the  Gospel  is  at  work,  and 

207, 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


that  it  is  the  mightiest  force  of  all.  The  Gospel 
has  shown  its  overcoming  power  in  other  lands 
and  times,  and  it  will  show  it  again  in  China./ 
A recent  traveler  declares  that  it  will  take  500 
years  to  convert  China.  Well,  Christianity  has 
been  operating  upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  for 
1,500  years,  and  neither  Great  Britain  nor 
America  is  converted  yet.  No  other  cities  in  the 
world  have  had  the  pure  Gospel  preached  to  them 
for  a longer  period  than  London,  Edinburgh  and 
Glasgow;  but  the  Christians  in  those  cities  confess 
that  they  are  appalled  by  the  wickedness  in  them. 
Even  if  it  does  take  500  years  to  convert  China, 
which  has  nearly  three  times  as  many  people  as 
Great  Britain  and  America  combined,  it  would 
not  be  a reason  for  withholding  from  the  Chinese 
the  truths  which  transform  every  man  who  accepts 
them.  We  do  not  refuse  to  give  China  our  med- 
ical science  because  diseases  still  prevail  in  Amer- 
ica, and  no  more  should  we  refuse  to  give  Chris- 
tian teaching  because  some  at  home  still  ignore 
or  reject  it. 

Grant  that  the  evangelization  of  China  is  a 
big  task,  and  it  certainly  is,  we  may  be  cheered 
by  the  great  progress  that  is  being  made,  by  the 
evidence  that  Christianity  has  taken  root  so  that 
there  is  a Church  which  is  well  established 
and  certain  to  grow.  We  may  be  encouraged, 
too,  by  the  fact  that  the  Churches  contain  a larger 

208 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


number  of  Christians  of  the  second  and  third 
generation,  and  are  attracting  men  of  intelligence 
who  are  fitted  for  leadership.  The  Christian 
movement  is  gaining  strength  and  momentum,  and 
the  larger  faith  and  sounder  character  of  men  who 
are  at  a farther  remove  from  original  heathenism. 
The  first  converts  find  it  very  difficult  to  emancipate 
themselves  from  inherited  superstitions  and  wrong 
practices;  but  these  superstitions  and  practices  are 
weaker  in  the  second  generation,  and  still  weaker 
in  the  third,  while  the  Christian  convictions  and 
standards  are  proportionately  stronger.  There  is 
a limit  to  this  line  of  argument,  for  the  oldest 
Church  in  time  is  not  always  the  best  in  char- 
acter; but  broadly  speaking,  children  who  have 
grown  up  in  a believing  household,  accustomed 
from  their  earliest  recollections  to  prayer  and  the 
Word  of  God,  and  who  are  led  to  Christ  before 
idolatry  and  vice  gain  a hold,  are  apt  to  be  better 
Christians  than  those  who  grow  up  in  heathenism 
and  become  Christians  later  in  life.  It  is,  there- 
fore, a distinct  encouragement  that  we  now  have 
a considerable  and  rapidly  increasing  number  of 
such  Christians.  / Everywhere  I went,  I asked  not 
only  missionaries,  but  Chinese  pastors,  elders  and 
evangelists  what  they  thought  of  the  future,  and 
without  exception  I found  their  attitude  hopeful 
to  the  point  of  enthusiasm.  They  felt  absolutely 
confident  that  the  cause  of  Christ  is  firmly  es- 

209 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


tablished  in  China  and  that  great  days  are  to 
come. ) As  I journeyed  through  that  great  land, 
asking  questions,  making  investigations  regarding 
the  conditions  and  perplexities  of  the  work,  and 
noting  the  changes  that  had  taken  place  since 
my  former  visit,  I found  myself  repeatedly  ut- 
tering the  words,  “ What  hath  God  wrought ! ” 
I close  this  study  of  the  newT  China  oppressed 
by  the  magnitude  of  the  task  which  we  have  under- 
taken, feeling  keenly  its  difficulties,  not  under- 
estimating the  formidable  opposition  which  we 
encounter.  But  I am  inspired  by  a stronger  con- 
fidence in  the  vitality  of  the  Gospel,  a more 
assured  conviction  that  amid  all  the  tumult  of  a 
changing  order,  the  purpose  of  the  omnipotent  and 
ever-living  God  is  being  steadily  developed.  I 
am  impressed  by  the  fidelity  and  enthusiasm  of  the 
missionaries  and  cheered  by  the  example  of 
Chinese  Christians  who,  amid  toil  and  poverty  and 
sometimes  persecution,  are  serving  their  Lord  wTith 
gladness  of  heart.  “ A growing  Church  among 
a strong  people  burdened  by  a decadent  Empire — 
the  spirit  of  life  working  against  the  forces  of 
death  and  decay  in  the  one  great  pagan  Empire 
which  the  wrecks  of  millenniums  have  left  on  the 
earth — surely  there  is  a call  to  service  that  might 
fire  the  spirit  of  the  dullest  of  us.”  If  this  was 
true  when  Dr.  Gibson  wrote  it  a few  years  ago, 
how  much  more  is  it  true  now,  when  the  burden 


210 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


of  that  decadent  pagan  Empire  has  been  suddenly- 
cast  off  and  the  mighty  spirit  of  life  given  freer  and 
more  majestic  scope.  When,  in  all  the  history  of 
the  world,  has  such  a summons  come  to  the  men 
of  a generation? 

And  it  comes  to  the  women  as  well  as  the  men. 
More  than  half  of  the  missionaries  in  China  are 
women,  and  hundreds  more  are  needed.  Evange- 
listic, educational  and  medical  work  for  women  and 
girls  must  be  conducted  by  women  missionaries 
from  the  West.  The  character  of  the  homes  and 
the  new  position  of  woman  in  Chinese  society  will 
be  largely  determined  by  them.  No  nation  rises 
above  the  moral  level  of  its  wives  and  mothers, 
and  all  our  plans  for  the  regeneration  of  China 
must  fail  unless  the  women  of  Europe  and  America 
respond  with  prompt  and  unselfish  service.  „ 

/It  is  surely  time  for  the  Christian  Churches 
of  Europe  and  America  to  understand  that 
their  greatest  work  in  the  twentieth  century  is 
to  plan  this  movement  on  a scale  gigantic  in  com- 
parison with  anything  they  have  yet  done,  and  to 
meet  intelligently,  generously  and  prayerfully, 
the  splendid  opportunity  to  give  new  China  the 
principles  of  a new  life.  The  obstacles  are  for- 
midable, but  we  can  say  with  Gladstone : “ Time 
is  on  our  side.  The  great  social  forces  which 
move  onward  in  their  might  and  majesty  and  which 
the  tumults  of  these  strifes  do  not  for  a moment 


21 1 


THE  CHINESE  REVOLUTION 


impede  or  disturb,  those  forces  are  marshalled  in 
our  support.  And  the  banner  which  we  now  carry 
in  the  fight,  though  perhaps  at  some  moment  of 
the  struggle  it  may  droop  over  our  sinking  hearts, 
yet  will  float  again  in  the  eye  of  Heaven  and  will 
be  borne,  perhaps  not  to  an  easy,  but  to  a certain 
and  to  a not  distant  victory.”  1 

“ Ye  shall  hear  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,” 
our  Lord  calmly  said  to  His  disciples.  “ See  that 
ye  be  not  troubled;  for  these  things  must  needs 
come  to  pass.”  “ This  Gospel  of  the  kingdom 
shall  be  preached  in  the  whole  world  for  a testi- 
mony unto  all  the  nations.”  2 “ Now  is  come  the 

salvation,  and  the  power,  and  the  kingdom  of  our 
God,  and  the  authority  of  His  Christ.”  3 

“ And  who  knoweth  whether  thou  art  not  come 
to  the  kingdom  for  such  a time  as  this  ? ” 4 

1 Speech  on  the  Reform  Bill.  * Matt,  xziv:  6,  14. 

* Rev.  xii:  10.  4 Esther  iv:  14. 


212 


INDEX 


Africa,  61. 

Agriculture,  14,  15,  16,  31.  44~4S.  48. 
America,  11,  14,  44,  58-59,  61,  63,  81, 

86- 87,  130,  194  ff.;  Chinese  in,  32; 
Americans,  1-2,  18-20,  26,  32-33, 
37,  39,  51,  54,  7i. 

Anti-foreign  feeling,  50-55,  60-63, 

87- 91,  116-117,  120-121,  128-129, 
206-207. 

Arch,  30. 

Army,  Chinese,  5,  7,  10,  159,  165, 187 
-189. 

Assemblies,  Provincial,  121,  132, 138- 
141;  National,  132,  139-141,  143. 
Astronomers,  Chinese,  29. 

Bankers,  foreign,  1-2,  43. 

Banks  and  banking,  22,  30-31,  160, 
166. 

Bannermen,  6. 

Bashford,  Bishop  J.  W.,  199. 

Berlin  Conference,  61. 

Bible,  127;  translation  of,  97,  99. 
Blind,  99. 

Boxer  Uprising,  9,  16,  43,  64,  81,  103, 
113-115,  118,  128-131,  162-163, 
165,  184. 

Bribery,  22-23,  152. 

Brinkley,  Prank,  64. 

Buddhism,  24,  89,  198. 

Cabinet,  141. 

Canals,  30. 

Canton,  43,  49,  77,  78,  84,  150. 
Capital, ^foreign,  1-3,  43.  174.  179, 
184. 

Census,  15-16. 

Chang  Chih-tung,  Viceroy,  75,  127, 
137.  188. 

Chang  Po  Ling,  85. 


Charitable  institutions,  95,  99. 

Chih-li,  18,  164. 

Children,  15,  26,  29. 

China,  area,  12-18,  51-52;  popula- 
tion, 12,  15-18,  52;  resources,  14- 
15.  16,  31.  36,  41,  44-48. 

Chinese,  character  and  customs,  12- 
13.  18-35.  50-51,  53-541  language, 
82;  in  America,  32,  58,  59,  63; 
religions  of,  23-24,  48-49,  87,  91, 
182,  192-193;  see  also,  religions. 

Ching,  Prince,  23,  141. 

Christianity,  ix,  47,  49,  56-57,  86,  89, 
94  ff-,  101,  hi,  193,  195-208. 

Christians,  Chinese,  95,  97-99,  103- 
no,  112-117,  209. 

Chun,  Prince  Regent,  9,  10,  136,  142- 
144,  169-172. 

Church,  Chinese,  199,  203,  209-210; 
Greek,  57;  Roman  Catholic,  56-57, 
95,116-117;  western,  duty  of,  194- 
212. 

Cities,  17,  41. 

Civilization,  Chinese  and  western, 
30-31,  92-93,  197- 

Commissions,  Imperial,  to  Europe  and 
America,  23,  131. 

Classics,  Confucian,  31,  74-75- 

Clocks,  38. 

Coal,  15,  44-45. 

Coinage,  166. 

Colleges,  71,  75-77,  85,  105,  106. 

Colonizing,  33,  35. 

Commerce,  30,  31,  33,  36-47. 

Compass,  30. 

Concessions,  foreign,  43. 

Concubines,  8-9,  15. 

Confucius  and  Confucianism,  26,  31, 
74-75,  195-196,  198,  204. 


213 


INDEX 


Constitution,  58.  100,  126-156,  166. 
Consuls,  101-102. 

Corruption,  official,  2-3,  4,  6,  15-16, 
21-23,  26,  152. 

Cotton,  39. 

Courts,  22,  151-154;  U.  S.,  In  China, 

89. 

Crusades,  191. 

Deaf  and  dumb,  99. 

Death,  19,  25-26. 

Debt,  national,  184;  see  also,  loans. 
Degrees,  75,  85,  132. 

Democracy  in  China,  32. 

Dickens,  Charles,  28. 

Ding  Li  Mei,  105-106,  no. 

Diplomatic  relations,  50-70. 

Drought,  3-4- 
Dynasties,  5-6,  I 44-145. 

Edicts,  Imperial,  56,  75-76,  78,  117, 
127,  132,  140,  141,  142-144,  147- 
148,  151,  153-156,  167,  195-196. 
Education,  71,  74,  94;  Confucian,  31; 
Christian,  78,  85,  197;  government, 
75-78,  161,  165-167,  195-197;  Im- 
perial Board  of,  76,  83,  1 19-120; 
Educational  Association  of  China, 

71- 

Electricity  and  electrical  apparatus, 
37.  39.  41.  74.  166,  193. 

Emperor,  Hong  Wu,  30;  Hsien  Feng, 

8;  Hwai  Tsung,  5;  Kuang  Hsu,  8-9, 
127,  134,  168-170;  Pu  Yi  (Hsuan 
Tung),  136,  142,  168-170;  Shun 
Chi,  6;  Tien-tsung,  5-6. 

Empress  Dowager  Tzu  Hsi,  8-9,  63, 
128-136,  162,  164,  168-170. 
Engineering  courses,  76. 

England  and  English,  2,  n,  12,  14, 
60-62,  68,  174,  184;  language,  78. 
Epidemics,  3-4,  128. 

Europe  and  Europeans,  1-2,  11-12, 
14.  30,  37.  39.  51.  58.  87,  130,  185. 
189-191.  I94—I95- 

Evangelistic  Association  of  China,  1 
108. 


Examinations,  74-75,  77,  85. 
Exclusion  Law,  U.  S.,  59. 
Extra-territorial  rights,  152. 

“Face,”  53-54.  170-171. 

Family,  15. 

Famine,  3-4,  45,  128,  famine  re- 
lief, 203. 

I Floods,  3-4,  128. 

Flour,  38,  40. 

Fo-lden,  18.  108,  123. 

Foot-binding,  83,  150-151. 

Foreigners  in  China.  37  S.,  50,  68,  87- 
9i.  130. 

France  and  the  French,  2,  12,  60-62, 
65.  68,  184. 

Gambling,  23,  150. 

Germany  and  Germans,  2,  11-12,  30, 
60-62,  65,  68,  130. 

Gibson.  J.  Campbell,  23,  104,  210. 
Girls,  83.  150-151. 

Giving,  112-113. 

Gladstone,  Wm.  E.,  an. 

Gordon,  General  George,  7-8. 
Governments,  166,  173;  constitu- 
tional, 126-156;  Manchu,  1-3,  6 8., 
32,  55.  134  ft.,  145.  195;  revolu- 
tionary, 173  8.,  182  8. ; western. 
1-2,  58,  101-102. 

Grant,  General,  32. 

Greek  Church,  57. 

Hai-nan,  62. 

Hankow,  10,  43,  108. 

Han-5-ang.  10.  40,  123. 

Hart,  Sir  Robert,  73,  195. 

Harte,  Bret,  34. 

Hay,  John,  192. 

Hayes,  Watson  M.,  167,  196. 
Hong-kong,  62. 

Hospitals,  99,  165. 

Hunan.  3-4.  45.  47- 
Hupeh,  3-4,  18. 

Hwang-hc  River,  3-4.  128. 

Idols  and  Idolatry.  77.  167. 
Immorality,  23-25,  86-91. 


214 


INDEX 


India,  n,  24,  60. 

Indemnity,  16,  81,  130,  184. 

Insane,  99- 

Intellectual  awakening,  71-93. 

Iron,  is,  40,  44-45.  123- 
Islands,  60-61. 

Italian-Turkish  War,  69. 

Jagerschmidt,  Andr6,  37- 
Jails,  152-154- 

Japan  and  Japanese,  11-12,  23,  34- 
35.  52,  54.  68,  79-8i,  184,  189. 
Jenghiz  Khan,  4-5. 

Jews,  33- 

Jordan,  Sir  John,  149. 

Jung  Lu,  Viceroy,  168-169. 

Kiang-si,  3-4. 

Kiang-su,  3~4- 

Kidd,  Benjamin,  27,  201. 

Korea,  12,  60,  159. 

Kuang  Hsu,  Emperor,  8-9,  127,  134, 
168-170. 

Kwang-tung,  32. 

Language,  Chinese,  82. 

Learning,  78-80;  Confucian,  31; 

western,  58,  72,  74  ff. 

Lecky,  201. 

Legations,  57.  60,  66-67. 

Leper  asylums,  99- 

Liberty,  religious,  124,  195-196. 

Li  Hung  Chang,  Viceroy,  159,  164. 
Living,  cost  of,  47-48. 

Li  Yuan  Heng,  General,  123,  158. 
Loans,  1-3,  43.  174.  *79.  184. 
Looting,  64-66,  160,  183. 

Lowrie,  J.  Walter,  119. 

Luce,  H.  W.,  105. 

Mac  Arthur,  General,  188. 

Machinery,  37  ff- 

Manchuria,  3,  4-5,  14,  16,  37,  62,  107, 
183-184. 

Manchus,  origin  of,  4-5;  seize  throne 
of  China,  5-6;  character  of  rule, 
6 ff.,  21-23,  133-136,  144-145,  151, 

174  ff- 


Manufactures,  30,  37  ff.,  40,  44-45, 
123,  167. 

Marriage,  15.  134- 

Martin,  W.  A.  P.,  7.  56,  58,  171,  196. 

Minerals,  15. 40,  44-45;  mining,  41, 76. 

Ming  Dynasty,  5. 

Mints,  166. 

Missionaries  and  missions,  36-40,  58, 
71-74,  78,  85,  90-91.  94-104,  116- 
122,  129,  147,  151.  167.  194-205, 
210,  211;  statistics  of,  95,  99,  205. 

M’Kenzie,  F.  A.,  101. 

Mobs,  59.  129-130,  163,  182. 

Mongolia  and  Mongols,  4-5,  14,  16, 
183-184. 

Morrison,  Robert,  96-97.  100. 

Murray,  Robert.  89. 

Nanking,  41,  43, 87,  98, 107,  122,  143. 

Nations,  western,  1-2,  50  ff.,  87,  91- 
92,  101-102,  146,  184,  186,  188. 

Nestorians,  94. 

Newspapers,  60,  73,  82,  161,  193. 

Ngan-hwei,  3-4. 

Ng  Poon  Chew,  22-23. 

Nurhachi,  5. 

Officials,  2-3,  4,  6,  15-16,  21-23,  25- 
26,  73,  79,  116  ff.,  152-154,  203; 
republican,  199. 

Oil,  38. 

Opium,  99,  146-149. 

Orphanages,  99. 

Palace,  Imperial,  39,  65-66,  140,  169, 
176, 

Pang  Shao  Yi,  158. 

Paper,  30. 

Parliament,  100;  see  also,  assemblies. 

Partition,  185. 

Patriotism,  50. 

Pearl  River,  184. 

Peculation,  official,  2-3,  4,  6,  15-16, 
21-23,  26. 

Peking,  2,  5,  23-25,  41-42,  63-64,  81, 
130. 

Penal  code,  25,  151-154. 

People,  Chinese,  182,  187,  192-193; 
see  also,  Chinese. 


215 


INDEX 


Persecution  of  Christians,  113-117. 

Persia,  11,  60,  69. 

Philippines,  12,  61. 

Pillage,  64-66,  160,  183. 

Police,  41,  84,  168. 

Political  influences,  50-70. 

Population  of  China,  12,  15-18,  51. 

Ports,  88,  90,  98. 

Post-offices,  73-74- 

Poverty,  47-48. 

Powder,  30. 

Press  and  printing,  30,  72,  75,  99, 
126-127. 

Protestants  in  China,  205;  see  also, 
missions. 

Provinces,  1-4,  15-17,  183. 

Punishments,  25,  151-154- 

Queue,  154-155- 

Railways,  1-3,  36.  42  ffi,  68,  193- 

Reforms,  126-131;  social,  146-156; 
of  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  160,  165-167. 

Regent,  8-10,  136,  142-144,  169-172. 

Religions,  Chinese,  23-24,  26,  48-49, 
86-89,  198;  freedom  of,  56-57.  82, 
124,  195-196. 

Republic,  Chinese,  144.  173.  182-211; 
republicans,  174-175. 

Resources  of  China,  14-16,  31,  36,  41, 
44-48. 

Revivals,  105-m. 

Revolutions,  former  Chinese,  5,  7-8, 
51;  of  1911-1912,  1-13.  36-49.  50- 
70,  71-93.  143-146;  Christianity 
and,  101-102,  1 21-125;  Tai-ping, 
7-8,  36. 

Rice,  44.  47. 

Richtofen,  Baron  von,  15,  35. 

Rivers,  3,  4,  14,  42,  128,  184. 

Roads,  41,  47,  167. 

Roman  Catholics,  56-57.  95. 116-117. 

Russia,  13,  36-37.  60,  62,  68,  184,  189. 

Russia-Japan  War,  36-37,  67,  79. 

Sanitation,  41,  47,  167. 

Schools,  girls',  83;  government,  75- 


78,  81,  83,  121,  133,  161,  165-167. 
195-197;  mission,  74  S-,  83-85.  95, 
99,  12 1 ; normal,  166. 

Sewing  machines,  38. 

Shanghai,  42,  62,  88. 

Shan-si,  18,  107. 

Shantung,  3-4,  17-18,  45,  62,  159- 
162. 

Shen-si,  15,  94. 

Siberian  R.  R.,  36. 

Silk,  30. 

Slavery,  155- 

Smith,  Arthur  H.,  53,  71. 

Smith,  George  Adam,  92. 

Social  Reforms,  146-156. 

Society,  gradations  of,  31. 

Societies,  missionary,  71-72. 
Soldiers,  31,  171,  183,  187-189. 
Soldiers,  Chinese,  163,  165,  183,  203; 

western,  64-66. 

Steam  and  steamships,  36-48. 

Steel,  40,  123. 

Street  cars,  41. 

Students,  31,  78-80;  government,  76, 
195-197;  Chinese  in  U.  S.,  81-82, 
85;  Christian,  105-106;  students 
and  the  Revolution,  81. 

Su,  Prince,  23. 

Suffering,  indifference  to,  25-26. 
Suicide,  19. 

Sun  Yat  Sen,  123,  124,  144-145,  176- 
181,  186. 

Superstition,  4,  26,  46,  49. 

Sze-chwan,  2,  10. 

Taft,  President,  79.  89. 

Tai-pings,  7-8,  36. 

Ta-tsing  Dynasty,  6. 

Taxes,  7,  15.  21. 

Tea,  30. 

Teachers,  71,  75,  77.  166-167. 
Telegraph,  74.  193- 
Telephones,  41,  74- 
Temples,  24,  49,  77- 
Tibet,  14,  16. 

Tien-ming,  dynasty  of,  5- 
Tien-tsin,  41,  42.  43.  159.  166. 


2l6 


INDEX 


Tien-tsung,  Emperor,  5-6. 

Tobacco,  49* 

Torture,  152-154. 

Trade,  36  ff.,  54,  101-102. 

Travel,  36  ff. 

Treaties,  56-57,  98. 

Tsinan-fu,  41,  118,  161,  167, 188. 
Tsung-li  Yamen,  57-58,  131. 

Tuan  Fang,  Viceroy,  6,  88,  131,  137. 
Turkestan,  14,  16. 

Turkey,  n,  69. 

Twain,  Mark,  87. 

Tzu  Hsi,  Empress  Dowager,  8-9,  63, 
83,  128-136,  162-164,  168-170. 

Vices,  23-25,  86-91. 

Verne,  Jules,  37. 

Villages,  17-18. 

Wai-wu  Pu,  131. 

Wang  Chong  We!,  123,  158. 


War,  65;  China-Japan,  159;  Italian- 
Turkish,  69;  Russia-Japan,  36-37# 
67,  79- 

Ward,  Frederick,  7-8. 

Watches,  38. 

Wheat,  44. 

Wheelbarrows,  45. 

Wilfley,  Judge,  88. 

Williams,  S.  Wells,  30,  56-57. 
Women,  71.  73.  83-85,  109,  134; 

150-151,  211. 

Wu-chang,  10,  108. 

Wu  Ting-fang,  42,  153,  158. 

Xavier,  Francis,  95. 

Yang-tze  River,  3,  62,  184. 

“Yellow  Peril,”  186-190,  195. 
“Young  China  Party,"  68. 
Yun-nan,  18,  62. 

Yuan  Shih  Kai,  10,  124, 136-137, 144, 
155,  158-177,  179-181,  188. 

Yu  Hsien,  Governor,  118,  162. 


217 


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